2025 UMass Chan Medical School - Climate Curriculum Video Transcript

In central Massachusetts, UMass Chan Medical School will educate future doctors and healthcare leaders on how to confront the disproportionate impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations. We know that climate change has profound impacts on human health. Some examples include rising temperatures affecting infectious disease and an increase in vector borne illnesses. Poor air quality, we know, affects respiratory systems and leads to respiratory illness, but is also connected to other chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and dementia.

Climate change has a major impact on all of our health. I think one of the problems I see with climate change is it feels like a problem somewhere else, but the reality is that it's a problem happening across the globe and in our communities. UMass is at the forefront of a climate change curriculum, and the task force, in collaboration with faculty, students, staff and block directors, is determining which topics and how to prioritize topics into the curriculum.

This is incredibly important for our next generation of health professionals as they learn about the impact of climate change on human health. The vision of the climate change curriculum is for it to be integrated throughout the four years, including into the biomedical curriculum and the clinical curriculum, and through that, all students at UMass Chan will have exposure to climate change and its impact on health.