**Public Health Student Bridges Disciplines to Tackle Climate and Health Equity**

January 23, 2026 - 03:39

A graduate student is pioneering an interdisciplinary research path to address the profound health disparities exacerbated by climate change. By focusing on the social and environmental determinants of health, her work highlights how factors like housing, air quality, and extreme heat outside clinical settings disproportionately impact vulnerable communities.

Her approach synthesizes insights from urban planning, environmental science, and social epidemiology. This method aims to move beyond traditional medical models to create holistic public health interventions. She is particularly focused on how policy and community-level changes can build resilience against climate-related health threats, such as worsening respiratory illnesses and heat stress.

The research underscores that health outcomes are often shaped more by zip code than genetic code. By documenting these inequities and proposing integrated solutions, this work seeks to inform strategies that protect the most at-risk populations. The goal is to translate academic findings into actionable frameworks that policymakers and health practitioners can use to foster healthier, more equitable communities in a changing climate. This effort represents a growing shift in public health toward addressing root causes of disease and inequality.