Kristie L. Ebi
University of Washington

Biography

Kristie L. Ebi, Ph.D., MPH is a Professor in the Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE) in the School of Public Health, University of Washington. She has been conducting research on the health risks of climate variability and change for more than 30 years. Her research focuses on estimating current and future health risks of climate change; designing adaptation policies and measures to reduce the risks of climate change in multi-stressor environments; and quantifying the health co-benefits of mitigation policies. She has worked with multiple countries in Africa, Central America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific in assessing their vulnerability and implementing adaptation measures. She chairs the NASEM Board on Environment and Society. She was a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th assessment cycle, including the special report on warming of 1.5°C and the human health chapter for Working Group II. She was a lead author for the 4th and 5th US National Climate Assessments. She also co-chairs the International Committee On New Integrated Climate change assessment Scenarios (ICONICS). She is a member of Future Earth and the Earth League. Her scientific training includes an M.S. in toxicology and a Ph.D. and a Master of Public Health in epidemiology, and two years of postgraduate research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She edited fours books on aspects of climate change and has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications.

Abstract: Population health risks and health system responses in a changing climate

Climate change is already adversely affecting population health and health systems, altering the geographic range, seasonality, and incidence of a wide range of climate-sensitive health outcomes, including heat-related illnesses, illnesses caused by poor air quality, undernutrition, and selected vectorborne diseases. Future health risks will be determined by the interaction of the hazards created by a changing climate with the populations and regions exposed to those changes, and the underlying sensitivity and capacity of individuals and populations to prepare for and effectively manage changes in the magnitude and pattern of disease burdens. That is, interactions between climate change and demographic, socioeconomic, and other changes will determine the burden of climate-sensitive health outcomes. Adaptation to prepare for and manage these shifting disease burdens will take place from local to global scales. Climate change is also affecting the functioning of public health and health care systems. Vulnerable populations and regions will be differentially affected, with expected increases in poverty and inequities. Investments and policies to promote proactive and effective adaptation and reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions would decrease the magnitude and pattern of health risks, particularly in the medium-to-long term.