September 6, 2024 – A new interdisciplinary concentration in climate change and planetary health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is aimed at preparing students to deal with the consequences of human-caused changes to the climate and the planet, such as extreme weather, the spread of infectious diseases, and negative impacts on food production.

The hope is that the 10-credit concentration will make it easier for students to navigate studies in climate change and planetary health and strengthen the School’s community of scholars in the nascent field while providing a roadmap for how to create an effective program.

“It is clear that the impacts of harming our planet and climate change are among the greatest public health threats we face, Creating a concentration in climate change and planetary health is an important marker at the School to recognize the fact that this isn’t only an engineering or an entrepreneurial or technological issue, but that health really needs to be at the middle of this conversation.” said Gaurab Basu, director of education and policy for Harvard Chan School’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE) and an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health, who co-directs the new concentration along with Christopher Golden, associate professor of nutrition and planetary health.

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“In order to adequately prepare, adapt, and create resilience against these upcoming threats, we are bringing together faculty with different skill sets from across the School to teach in the program, We are excited to prepare the next generation of leaders to tackle this existential crisis that touches every domain of public health, from infectious disease to noncommunicable disease to mental health to nutrition and beyond.” said Golden.

The concentration includes four core courses. Golden will teach “An Introduction to Planetary Health” and Basu will teach “Climate Change and Global Health Equity.” The other two—“Climate Change, Health, and Environmental Justice: Focusing on Policy and Solutions” and “Human Health and Global Environmental Change”—will be taught, respectively, by Kari Nadeau, John Rock Professor of Climate and Population Studies and chair of the Department of Environmental Health, and Caleb Dresser, an instructor in the department and director of healthcare solutions for C-CHANGE.

Students in the concentration will be able to choose from among nearly 40 courses from one of two tracks, research methodologies and research translation, and will also have a choice of electives on topics such as societal response to disaster and how the built environment impacts health. Nearly 50 faculty from multiple departments and centers are affiliated with the new concentration.