Overview

Managing the far-reaching consequences of climate change requires professionals who are familiar with the best available science and trained to work with the community and a broad range of stakeholders. Through a partnership between faculty in the UMB Schools of Medicine, Law, Nursing, and Social Work and the Marine, Estuarine, Environmental Sciences (MEES) graduate program, UMB has formed an interprofessional consortium on Climate Change, Health, and Society.

The Climate Change, Health, and Society consortium combines relevant expertise around the University System of Maryland (USM) to provide graduate and professional students with the necessary tools to work effectively in teams across disciplines. This health-legal-scientific partnership represents an innovative strategy for addressing the impacts of the climate crisis in order to promote future sustainable development in the city, state, and region.

Graduate training in climate and health is available through the MEES Program's Foundation on Environment, Health and Society. The Foundation's emphasis is on the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on human health and society and its legal and policy ramifications in the 21st century. The Fall semester course, MEES 620, provides students with core knowledge and critical skills for consensus building and stakeholder analysis.

In the Spring semester, UMB's interprofessional course, CIPP650, Climate Change, Health, and Society, is offered to medical, science, law, and other professional students with the goal of better understanding the health and societal impacts of climate change, and developing interprofessional skills and climate solutions. CIPP650 is open to students in the MEES Program, and other students across UMB and USM.

During the summer, the UMB Provost's Climate Health & Resiliency Summer Internships support selected students to implement innovative solutions to climate change. Students work together in teams toward real-world solutions to climate and environmental challenges while partnering with faculty, stakeholders, and leaders in the surrounding Baltimore community and State of Maryland.

The Climate Change, Health, & Society consortium organizes a monthly Speaker Series during the Fall, with a daylong Symposium in October. These events are supported through a generous grant from UMB's Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) institute.