Enviromedics

While the subject of climate change is often in the news and social media, and its realities debated in various arenas of science and government, the health impacts are often overlooked. Here, two seasoned physicians dispel myths, clarify science, and help readers understand the threats of environmental change to human health.

Jay Lemery, MD, is Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Chief of the Section of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, and an affiliate faculty member of the Colorado School of Public Health. He is a past-president of the Wilderness Medical Society and has provided medical direction to health care providers operating at both poles, most recently serving as the EMS medical director for the U.S. Antarctic Program. Dr. Lemery has expertise in austere and remote medical care, as well as the effects of climate change on human health. He serves as a consultant for the Climate and Health Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and sits on the National Academy of Medicine's (IOM) Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine. He serves as Associate Director for the University of Colorado's Consortium on Climate Change & Health. He is co-Editor of Global Climate Change and Human Heath: From Science to Practice (2015), and an advisor to the organization Climate for Health (ecoAmerica), the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, and the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. He also holds academic appointments at the Harvard School of Public Health (FXB Center), where he is a contributing editor for its Journal, Health and Human Rights, and was Guest Editor for the June 2014 edition on 'Climate Justice.' Twitter: @JayLemery. Paul Auerbach, MD, is the Redlich Family Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor of Military/Emergency Medicine at the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He is a founder and past president of the Wilderness Medical Society and elected member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Auerbach is editor of the definitive textbook Wilderness Medicine and author of Field Guide to Wilderness Medicine and Medicine for the Outdoors. He was the founding co-editor of the journal Wilderness & Environmental Medicine and is one of the world's leading experts in wilderness medicine and emergency medicine. Dr. Auerbach served as a first responder to the earthquakes in Haiti (2010) and Nepal (2015) and was instrumental in creation of the Nepal Ambulance Service. Former Chief of the Divisions of Emergency Medicine at Vanderbilt and Stanford Universities, he has also been a faculty member at Temple University and the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Auerbach was one of the first proponents of physicians becoming active participants in the discussions on issues related to the environment and global climate change through his activities with the Environmental Council of the Wilderness Medical Society and a commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2008 titled "Physicians and the Environment" and creation of the Environmental Council of the Wilderness Medical Society. He has been honored by the Divers Alert Network as the DAN/Rolex Diver of the Year and with a NOGI Award for Science from the Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences, and recognized by the 98th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne) for his work in Haiti. He continues to seek opportunities to assist others and make the world a better place. For updates on the authors and on book related activities check out enviromedics.org.