Global Climate Change and Public Health

Kent E. Pinkerton, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Professor In-Residence, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis.  He is also Director of the Center for Health and the Environment at the John Muir Institute of the Environment.  Dr. Pinkerton’s research is on health effects of environmental air pollutants on lung structure and function, the interaction of gases and airborne particles within specific sites and cell populations of the lungs in acute and chronic lung injury, and the effects of environmental tobacco smoke on lung growth and development.  He is also a member of the Assembly for Environmental and Occupational Health of the American Thoracic Society.   William N. Rom, MD, MPH, has been at NYU since 1989 as Professor of Medicine and Environmental Medicine and Director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. The Division has 75 full-time faculty and over 25 fellows. His research is on early detection of lung cancer, environmental lung disease, TB/AIDS, and air pollution. He and his faculty have been awarded over $125M in NIH and CDC grants over the years. He is editor of 4 editions of Environmental and Occupational Medicine and 2 editions of Tuberculosis. He has published over 200 peer reviewed articles. He Chairs the American Thoracic Society's Environmental Health Policy Committee that advocates science-based air pollution standards. He has been a Fellow in the Department of Interior on National Parks and was a Senior Investigator at the NHLBI, NIH for 6 years deciphering the mechanisms of asbestosis. He was a Legislative Fellow for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and wrote the Family Asthma Bill, the Caribbean Wilderness Act, and the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Bill. He was the Founder and Director of the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Utah.

Introduction:  Consequences of Global Warming to the Public’s Health.- Climate Variability and Change Data and Information for Global Public Health.- Climate Change: Overview of Data Sources, Observed and Predicted Temperature Changes, and Impacts on Public and Environmental Health.- Eyewitness to Global Warming.- California and Climate Changes.- Heat Waves and Rising Temperatures: Human Health Impacts and the Determinants of Vulnerability.- Climate, Air Quality and Allergy: Emerging Methods for Detecting Linkages.- The Human Health Co-benefits of Air Quality Improvements Associated with Climate Change Mitigation.- Asthma, Hayfever, Pollen, and Climate Change.- Dengue Fever and Climate Change.- Impact of Climate Change on Vector-Borne Disease in the Amazon.- Climate Variability and Change: Food, Water and Societal Impacts.- Household Air Pollution from Cookstoves: Impacts on Health and Climate.- Biomass Fuel and Lung Diseases: An Indian Perspective.- The Effects of Climate Change and Air Pollution on Children and Mothers’ Health.- Climate Change and Public Health in Small Island States and Caribbean Countries.- Global Climate Change, Desertification, and Its Consequences in Turkey and the Middle East.- Assessing the Health Risks of Climate Change.- Federal Programs in Climate Change and Health Research.- Management of Climate Change Adaptation at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.- Public Health and Climate Programs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.- California’s Cap-and-Trade Program.