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Jodi Sherman, MD

Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and of Epidemiology (Environmental Health Sciences)
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Additional Titles

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Director, Program on Healthcare Environmental Sustainability, Yale Center on Climate Change and Health

Director of Sustainability, Anesthesiology

Affiliated Faculty, Climate Change and Health

Medical Director of Sustainability, Center for Sustainable Healthcare, Yale New Haven Health System

About

Titles

Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and of Epidemiology (Environmental Health Sciences)

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Director, Program on Healthcare Environmental Sustainability, Yale Center on Climate Change and Health; Director of Sustainability, Anesthesiology; Affiliated Faculty, Climate Change and Health

Positions outside Yale

Medical Director of Sustainability, Center for Sustainable Healthcare, Yale New Haven Health System

Biography

Jodi Sherman, MD, is Associate Professor of Anesthesiology of the Yale School of Medicine, Associate Professor of Epidemiology in Environmental Health Sciences, and founding director of the Yale Program on Healthcare Environmental Sustainability in the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health. Dr. Sherman also serves as the Medical Director of Sustainability for Yale-New Haven Health System. Dr. Sherman is an internationally recognized researcher in the emerging field of sustainability in clinical care. Her research interest is in life cycle assessment (LCA) of environmental emissions, human health impacts, and economic impacts of drugs, devices, clinical care pathways, and health systems. Her work seeks to establish sustainability metrics, paired with health outcomes and costs, to help guide clinical decision-making, professional behaviors, and organizational management toward more ecologically sustainable practices to improve the quality, safety and value of clinical care and to protect public health. Dr. Sherman routinely collaborates with environmental engineers, epidemiologists, toxicologists, health economists, health administrators, health professionals, and sustainability professionals. Dr. Sherman is a member of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change and was contributing analyst for the UK National Health Service Net Zero Initiative, and serves on the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative for Decarbonization of the U.S. Health Sector. She is Co-Director of the Lancet Planetary Health Commission on Sustainable Healthcare.


Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

Resident
Stanford University (2009)
Fellow, T-32 Research
University California, San Francisco (2006)
Intern
Columbia University (2003)
MD
SUNY Downstate College of Medicine (2002)

Board Certifications

  • Anesthesiology

    Certification Organization
    AB of Anesthesiology
    Original Certification Date
    2010

Research

Overview

Pollution is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, globally responsible for 16% of all deaths. Most of these environmentally-mediated deaths are linked to air pollution, whereas climate change has been identified as the greatest public health threat of the 21st century due to the myriad ways in which it undermines the social determinants of health and exacerbates other public health crises.

Healthcare is a major emitter of environmental pollutants that adversely affect health. My work has shown that healthcare is responsible for nearly 5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and similar fractions of toxic air pollutants. These emissions arise directly from healthcare facilities as well as indirectly from the supply chains of healthcare goods and services. Healthcare pollution harms public health, yet remains underappreciated and largely unaddressed, despite the professional mandate to "first, do no harm." In the face of mounting evidence of the human health impacts of pollution, efforts to address patient safety and healthcare quality must now include mitigation of healthcare pollution and resource stewardship.

To avoid planetary tipping points, healthcare - like all sectors - must undergo a systemic transformation to a sustainable model of care. This includes mitigation of ongoing environmental impacts, as well as adaptation and resilience of healthcare infrastructure and delivery systems across the spectrum of public and privately funded care, in anticipation of increasing burden of climate- and pollution-related illness. Sustainable health system design requires reframing care through increased attention to health promotion and wellness, and appropriateness of care, to create systems that prioritize both optimal clinical outcomes and environmental performance.

My life’s work is centered around healthcare emissions research, their public health harms and opportunities, implementation science, and policy reform to help rapidly drive the transition to a sustainable healthcare system.

My research is at the forefront of the emerging field of sustainability in clinical care. My interest is in life cycle assessment (LCA) of environmental emissions, human health impacts, and economic impacts of alternative drugs, devices, clinical care pathways, and health systems. My work seeks to establish sustainability metrics, paired with health outcomes and costs, to help guide clinical decision-making, professional behaviors, and organizational management toward more ecologically sustainable practices to improve the quality, safety and value of clinical care and to protect public health. I routinely collaborate with environmental engineers, epidemiologists, toxicologists, health economists, health administrators, health professionals, and sustainability professionals.

Among many important collaborations, I am a member of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, an international collaboration established to provide an independent, global monitoring system dedicated to tracking the emerging health profile of the changing climate. My team contributes metric 3.6, decarbonization of the healthcare system. I was a contributing analyst and strategist ofr the UK National Health Service Net Zero Programme. I serve on the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative for Decarbonization of the U.S. Health Sector. I am Co-Director of the Lancet Planetary Health Commission on Sustainable Healthcare.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Carbon Footprint; Chemicals and Drugs; Conservation of Natural Resources; Drug Contamination; Ecosystem; Environment and Public Health; Environment Design; Environment, Controlled; Environmental Medicine; Environmental Policy; Environmental Pollution; Equipment Reuse; Fresh Water; Greenhouse Effect; Health Care; Health Care Economics and Organizations; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation; Health Services Administration; Patient Harm; Public Health; Soil

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Jodi Sherman's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    Yale New Haven Health Center for Sustainable Healthcare

  • activity

    Yale-New Haven Hospital

  • activity

    American Society of Anesthesiologists

  • activity

    American Society of Anesthesiologists

  • activity

    American Society of Anesthesiologists

Get In Touch

Contacts

Academic Office Number
Mailing Address

Anesthesiology

333 Cedar Street

New Haven, CT 06520

United States