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Climate change is recognized as one of the greatest public health challenges of the twenty-first century. This course takes multidisciplinary approaches to identify, assess, quantify, and project public health impacts of climate change and of measures to address climate change. It first introduces the fundamental principles of health impact assessment and gives a brief overview of the public health approaches to address climate change. Then it applies advanced data analysis methodologies in environmental epidemiology, including time-series analysis, spatial epidemiology, and vulnerability assessment, to characterize the present climate-health (exposure-response) relationships and to identify vulnerable populations. The course discusses key concepts of scenario-based climate projections and their applications in projecting future health impacts, evaluating health co-benefits of climate mitigation polices, and assessing climate change adaptation measures. Emphasis is placed on hands-on computer lab exercises with real-data examples and R scripts.

In this two-term, monthly, not-for-credit seminar, students are introduced to a wide variety of topics related to climate change and health. The seminar features talks by Yale faculty, as well as invited speakers from other institutions. Students are expected to read one or two relevant papers in advance of each talk and to articulate questions for the speaker. This course is specifically targeted for students in the Climate Change and Health Concentration but is open to all members of the YSPH and Yale communities. Two terms of this seminar are required of students in the Climate Change and Health Concentration. Although no credit or grade is awarded, satisfactory performance will be noted on the student’s transcript.