Climate Justice and Health Equity

Kristie L. Ebi, PhD, MPH, MS is Professor of Global Health and Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and Director of the Center for Health & the Global Environment at the University of Washington. She conducts research on the impacts of climate change on extreme events, thermal stress, foodborne safety and security, water-borne diseases, and vector-borne diseases. She also focuses on understanding sources of vulnerability and designing adaptation policies and measures to reduce the risks of climate change in a multi-stressor environment. She has done this work in Central America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, in collaboration with WHO, UNDP, USAID, and others. Dr. Ebi was Executive Director of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II Technical Support Unit during 2009 – 2012, and was a coordinating lead author or lead author for assessments of the health effects of climate change for two US national assessments, the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development. Dr. Ebi recently led one of the first conferences on the health co-benefits of climate change mitigation policies and technologies. Her work directly addresses climate justice and health equity.