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Group of people standing and kneeling outdoors with gardening tools.

Courtesy of Tom Kelly  

Mollie G. Grow, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP (back row left), joins University of Washington pediatrics residents, faculty and friends at a park restoration event in Seattle sponsored by the Climate Change Clinical, Advocacy, Research and Education (CARE) Committee in April 2023. 

Pediatricians trusted to respond to environmental health hazards

February 1, 2025

As the effects of climate change continue to affect the environment in which children grow and learn, pediatricians across the country are using their platform as trusted voices to help create a better future for kids.

For many, addressing climate issues starts by looking for ways to improve sustainability in their own practice. For some, it can mean networking with others to tackle larger projects.

Sharing stories

After spending the first decade of her career as an environmental analyst, Debra J. Hendrickson, M.D., FAAP, decided to pursue a career in pediatrics after visits with her children’s pediatrician.

“Because he knew my science background, he would take out textbooks and talk to me about what he was thinking,” said Dr. Hendrickson, a member of the AAP Council on Environmental Health and Climate Change (COEHCC). “I realized this could merge my background in science with caring for kids, and it just appealed to me. There was kind of a big life crisis that led me to change.”

Now a clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, Dr. Hendrickson has seen the effects of climate change on children’s health firsthand. She recalls the 2013 Rim Fire, which originated in California and how it reached those in her practice.

“For days, there was literally ash raining from the sky,” Dr. Hendrickson said. “In my clinic one day, this little 10-month-old baby was brought in by her mom struggling to breathe because the air quality was so bad. She looked up at me with her big eyes and it just hit me. It kind of brought my past career and my current career together.”

Hoping to share her knowledge, Dr. Hendrickson authored the book The Air They Breathe. It contains stories profiling children, parents and doctors from across America, showing how climate is connected with overall health. She also discusses ways to speak about climate matters with families in a health care setting.

“There’s all kinds of health impacts that pediatricians can talk about,” Dr. Hendrickson said. “I look for openings when talking to parents. It’s not effective to preach to people or bang them over the head with it. I hope the takeaway for parents is to look for ways to get involved and exercise their agency of their kids’ future.”

According to Dr. Hendrickson, more than 50 U.S. medical schools have adopted curricula to teach medical students about the health risks of climate change. Starting this month, she will be visiting many of them to spread awareness and encourage action.

Sustainability a team effort

Mollie G. Grow, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP, serves as a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and associate program director of pediatric residency at Seattle Children's Hospital. In 2023, a group of residents asked for a formal initiative within the residency program to address climate issues, which led to the creation of the Climate Change Clinical, Advocacy, Research and Education (CARE) Committee.

“Particularly in pediatrics, we’re always learning from the younger generations,” Dr. Grow said. “I give them credit for really bringing myself and a number of other faculty into a more active role taking care of children’s health related to the impacts of climate change and trying to shift to a mindset of more sustainability.”

The group advocated for a formal curriculum, education for faculty and advocacy efforts around research. The committee meets monthly and has led efforts to reduce waste in the hospital and develop guidelines for sustainable department efforts and events.

The committee also is identifying advocacy opportunities, such as creating wildfire smoke guidelines, signing on to letters for clinical support and hosting education efforts in the community.

“It’s really important for people to understand the link between climate change and children’s health, because that tends to be more motivating than other areas or other ways of framing the challenges of climate change and why we should care about it,” Dr. Grow said.

While addressing climate change may seem like a massive task, Dr. Grow said her experience of finding like-minded people provides hope that meaningful change can be achieved.

“None of us can do it alone, and it takes a collective effort,” Dr. Grow said. “I think there’s an analogy to voting where people ask, ‘Does my vote really count?’ Yes, every vote still counts. Each of our actions still matters, and when we find other people, we can do more together. Look for things we can do individually and collectively.”

Developing curriculum for next generation

Rebecca Philipsborn, M.D., M.P.A., FAAP, initially planned to work in public health. After starting medical school, however, she realized pediatrics would be a natural fit for her interest in environmental and human health. She left a health care consulting job in New York to put her pediatric career in motion.

Now an associate professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Dr. Philipsborn directs the pediatrics clerkship and the Climate Change and Environmental Health Thread for medical students, where she helps train future leaders to recognize environmental influences on health.

Dr. Philipsborn recently received the Macy Scholarship, a two-year award to prepare learners to address the influences of climate change on human health and health equity. Her Macy Faculty Scholars project will develop, implement and disseminate a longitudinal and interprofessional climate change and environmental health curriculum for the clinical years.

“They were interested in projects that affect the clinical learning environment,” said Dr. Philipsborn, a member of the COEHCC Executive Committee. “Other areas of interest include inter-professional education, diversity, equity, inclusion and preparing learners for ethical dilemmas. There are many ways climate change can span all of those.”

In the Atlanta area, Dr. Philipsborn has seen the effects of summer heat on children, as well as extreme and less predictable rainfall. She also says “compounding disasters” like a heavy rainfall followed by prolonged heat and humidity can lead to air quality issues, further complicating the health needs of children.

“One of the questions I ask in clinic, and then I want my learners to ask, is about energy security,” Dr. Philipsborn said. “Have they had trouble paying utility bills or have utilities been shut off? For some of our patients, especially newborns, that is not safe. So, it’s about seeing if we can work with our interprofessional colleagues like social workers to intervene in that situation to make sure we keep a baby safe.”

As part of her Macy project, Dr. Philipsborn will work with students to create a curriculum applying the climate crisis as a paradigm through which they can prepare themselves for health issues that may not be known yet.

“One of the things we’re faced with is that we actually don’t know all of the challenges our patients will face because of climate change,” Dr. Philipsborn said. “One of the skills we’re trying to teach our learners is this idea of adaptive expertise. How do you adapt to the challenges that we can’t define yet as you move forward through your career? I really do think education is a great way to start getting towards transformation.”

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