From heat waves to hospital waste, Brown tackles climate-linked health threats at inaugural symposium

The first ever Planetary Health Symposium on May 1 represented both an exciting moment for researchers within the Division of Biology and Medicine, and marked the division’s “clear, intentional decision” to expand its mission, according to Mukesh Jain, MD, dean of medicine and biological sciences.

“We recognize that advancing human health requires us to also care for the health of the planet itself,” he said in his opening remarks. “The connection between environmental change and human well-being is no longer a future concern. It is here and now.”

The nearly 130 attendees included students and faculty from across Brown, Rhode Island high school students, state and local representatives, and colleagues from institutions like Johnson & Wales University and the University of Rhode Island. Kate Smith, PhD, senior associate dean of biology education, said the diverse fields and professions was a testament to planetary health as a “shared cause” that touches every sector.

“The richness of today’s attendees remind us that questions about health, sustainability, and the future of life on Earth belong to all of us,” said Smith, who is also the co-director of Brown’s Planetary Health Initiative.

The event offered a showcase of student research and panels exploring concepts like food sustainability, waste management, climate modeling, and career and funding opportunities in planetary health. Among the student presenters was John Nicklas '20 PhD'28 MD'28, whose research examined hospitalizations across Rhode Island for heat-related conditions and mortality. He said his findings pointed to the need for continued monitoring, as heat-related mortality accounts for 1.5 percent of total mortality worldwide.

“We think that about one-third of that is already due to climate change,” Nicklas said. “Looking forward to the end of the century, that might rise from around 1 percent all the way up to 6 percent on some of the highest range estimates.”

Sophie Marcus-Wade '25 shared her research into how rising temperatures have contributed to a growing threat posed by Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease. As the carriers of these parasites, kissing bugs have spread to North America from Central and South America. Her research examined the infection process and offered some potential hope in the use of gene editing to combat the disease here and abroad.

“We could use it to interfere with the process by which T. cruzi becomes infectious in the first place and, in an ideal world, prevent transmission altogether,” Marcus-Wade said.

David Dorfman MD’25 showcased his research into unopened medical supplies contributing to unnecessary waste among hospital emergency departments. He and others collected weeks’ worth of waste from emergency departments at The Miriam and Kent hospitals, and found significant financial and environmental waste.

“It’s about 5.8 metric tons of greenhouse gas equivalents generated from these materials that could be completely reused in the department that are being thrown out.” Dorfman said.

The symposium also welcomed Sam Meyers, MD, MPH, founding director of the Planetary Health Alliance and the Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health, who delivered the 2025 Paul Levinger Professorship Pro Tem in the Economics of Health Care. Meyers helped contextualize different aspects of planetary health and how different ecological crises have emerged as focal points in global health research. He said increasing carbon dioxide threatens everything from nutrition to environmental disasters, and noted the critical role that universities play in uniting broad disciplines in addressing and understanding these issues.

“Our ecological footprint collectively has grown so big that it exceeds the planet’s capacity to either absorb the waste that we’re producing, or to provide the resources we’re using sustainably,” Meyers said. “As a result, our activities are now transforming all of the planet’s natural systems and all of these biophysical changes are interacting with each other in a variety of complex ways that we need all of you to help us understand better.”