Alumni and Friends
An Evening with Harvard Chan C-CHANGE
Event Details
Wednesday, September 23
6:00 – 8:00 pm
Kimpton Hotel Eventi | 851 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10001
For yet another scorching summer, wildfire smoke has triggered air quality alerts across the country—a reminder that climate change’s health effects reach far beyond the fire line.
Join Harvard Chan C-CHANGE for a conversation on climate and health solutions and what our research means for communities here and around the world. Our panel will also feature a discussion with content creators sharing novel and engaging strategies to communicate about climate and health.
Program
Opening Remarks
Mary B. Rice and William Rom
Panel Discussion
Moderated by Wendy Gordon, featuring Amruta Nori-Sarma, Gaurab Basu, Kip Pastor and Katie Tutrone
About Harvard Chan C-CHANGE
For 30 years, the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment has translated climate science from across Harvard into action—from research on air pollution’s health effects to studies on wildfire smoke exposure across the country. Our work informs the policies and clinical guidance that protect the most vulnerable among us.
Learn more about our work at Harvard Chan C-CHANGE.
About the Speakers
Mary B. Rice is Director of Harvard Chan C-CHANGE and the Mark and Catherine Winkler Associate Professor of Environmental Respiratory Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. A pulmonary and critical care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, her research focuses on how air pollution and climate change affect respiratory health, and she has testified before Congress on the health effects of air pollution.
Amruta Nori-Sarma is Deputy Director of Harvard Chan C-CHANGE and Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Population Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. An environmental epidemiologist, she studies how climate-related exposures and extreme weather affect health outcomes in vulnerable communities.
Wendy Gordon co-founded and was the original president of PIPs Rewards LLC. The PIPs platform has been used by universities and nonprofit service organizations to recognize and reward tens of thousands of students for completing everyday positive impact actions. Previously, Gordon worked as a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, co-founded the Mothers & Others campaign with Meryl Streep, and developed the Green Guide
William Rom has had an impactful career at at NYU, including teaching, research, and clinical work. He directed the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Bellevue Chest Service for 25 years, during tuberculosis (TB)HIV epidemics. Rom’s research focuses on lung diseases, including environmental lung disease, tuberculosis, TB/HIV, early detection of lung cancer, and the impact of policy related to air pollution and climate change.
Gaurab Basu is assistant professor of environmental health and faculty at Harvard Chan C-CHANGE and the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights. Basu’s research focuses on the intersection of climate change and public health in India, examining how flooding, cyclones, and environmental change impact vulnerable communities and shape health outcomes, contributing to the development of more equitable, climate-resilient health systems and policies.
Kip Pastor is the founder/CEO of Pique Action, a global media company redefining the conversation around climate change to focus on solutions. An award-winning filmmaker who has directed and produced feature films, documentaries, and Fortune-500 commercials, Pastor believes that innovative storytelling is the most effective medium to disseminate big ideas and motivate global audiences on climate.
Katie Tutrone is an Emmy-winning storm tracker and reporter for The Weather Channel covering disasters and climate issues across the US. Her work bridges on-the-ground reporting with digital storytelling, making sense of a changing climate in real time through real people’s stories. But beyond weather maps, she covers all types of maps in a silly, digestible way on Tiktok for her almost 900K followers