Healthy planet, healthy people: How climate change impacts human immunology | Science

July 28, 2021

12:00 p.m. ET

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speaker

• Gwen W. Collman, Ph.D.

  National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, NIH
  Bethesda, MD

• Marcelo Korc, Ph.D., MPH

  Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
  Washington, DC

• Sheri Weiser, MD, MPH, MA

  University of California, San Francisco
  San Francisco, California

Moderated by

• Sean Sanders, Ph.D.

  Science / AAAS
  Washington, DC

Climate change, along with natural and man-made health stressors, can have profound effects on the human immune system and health. Water quality, pollution, and other environmental stressors can increase susceptibility to disease, especially among vulnerable populations. A warming climate and increasing exposure to allergens can disrupt antigen-specific tolerance, leading to an increase in immunological diseases. Vector-borne diseases and emerging pathogens like SARS-CoV-2 can cause epidemics that lead to profound disruptions to global health safety. Malnutrition is known to affect both innate and acquired immunity and increase susceptibility to disease, especially in children. Recent evidence suggests that the microbiome plays a key role in the immune system, with decreasing biodiversity potentially leading to inflammatory, autoimmune and neurological diseases.

In this webinar, we will explore these challenges and focus on how science and innovation can help mitigate some of the negative effects of climate change on human health, such as the human immune system and supporting research to turn this knowledge into development implement improved disease treatments and immunotherapies.

During this webinar, panelists will:

• Discuss the stress that climate change is placing on the human immune system and examine how that stress is unfairly borne by poor and vulnerable populations
• Highlight critical research areas with the greatest potential to curb the effects of climate change on human health
• Identify potential avenues for policy makers, research funders, and medical and scientific communities to support climate change-focused health research
• Answer questions from the online audience during the broadcast.

This webinar lasts approximately 60 minutes.

Speaker bios

Gwen W. Collman, Ph.D.

National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, NIH
Bethesda, MD

Dr. Collman is the associate director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Previously, she was an active member of the NIEHS Executive Leadership Team for the past 11 years in her role as Director of the NIEHS Division of Extramural Research and Training (DERT). She led the implementation of many exciting scientific programs with partners from NIH institutes and centers and other federal agencies. Dr. Collman has led scientific activities in the field of environmental health sciences, including the basic sciences of organ-specific toxicology, public health programs, and education and career development. She also oversees the implementation of the Superfund Research Program and the Worker Education and Training Program. She is credited with building the NIEHS fellowship portfolio in environmental and molecular epidemiology, and she has also developed several complex multidisciplinary research programs, including the NIEHS Breast Cancer and Environment Research Centers programs; the NIEHS / Environmental Protection Agency centers for environmental health and disease prevention in children; and the Gene, Environment and Health initiative. In recognition of her achievements, she has received many NIEHS Merit Awards, three NIH Director’s Awards, and the Health and Human Services Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service. Dr. Collman received a Ph.D. in Environmental Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health.

Marcelo Korc, Ph.D., MPH

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
Washington, DC

Dr. Korc is Head of Climate Change and Environmental Determinants of Health at the Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO / WHO). He has 28 years of experience designing, planning and directing strategic efforts and conducting research studies on global health equity with an emphasis on environmental determinants of health and population groups under conditions of vulnerability. Prior to joining PAHO / WHO in 1998, he worked in the private sector for Sonoma Technology, Inc. and Independent Project Analysis, Inc. Dr. Korc earned a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering (cum laude) from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (1987), a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester, New York (1992) and a Masters in Public Health from the University of Texas at El Paso (2011). He is the author and co-author of over 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters and is a member of the US National Environmental Health Association.

Sheri Weiser, MD, MPH, MA

University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, California

Dr. Weiser is Professor of Medicine and Internist in the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and the Trauma Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Her research focuses on the effects of food insecurity and other social and structural factors on treatment outcomes for HIV and other chronic diseases at home and abroad. She also examines how extreme weather events affect food security and infectious disease outcomes, and evaluates sustainable food insecurity and livelihood interventions as a way to improve health. She has published over 175 manuscripts on these topics and has been the principal researcher on over 25 research grants in the field, including 9 grants from the US National Institutes of Health. In addition, Dr. Weiser co-founded and will jointly lead the new UCSF Center for Climate, Health and Equity, where she plans to expand climate and health research, education and clinical initiatives. She also led the University of California’s Faculty Development Initiative in Climate and Health Education, which has trained faculty members in the University of California’s health science faculties to incorporate climate and health into their ongoing courses. She received the UCSF Faculty Sustainability Award and the UC Sustainability Champion Award.

Sean Sanders, Ph.D.

Science / AAAS
Washington, DC

Dr. Sanders completed his undergraduate education at the University of Cape Town, South Africa and received his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, UK, supported by the Wellcome Trust. After postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health and Georgetown University, Dr. Sanders joined TranXenoGen, a Massachusetts start-up biotechnology company working on transgenic animals in birds. Following his parallel passion for writing and editing, Dr. Sanders joined BioTechniques as an editor before joining Science / AAAS in 2006. Currently, Dr. Sanders Director and Senior Editor for Custom Publishing for Science Journal and Program Director for Outreach.

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source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/healthy-planet-healthy-people-how-climate-change-impacts-human-immunology-science/