The Unique Role of Medical Students in Catalyzing Climate Change Education

Climate change is a well-recognized threat to human health with impacts on every organ system and with implications for disease processes across subspecialties. Climate-driven environmental exposures influence the pathophysiologic underpinnings of disease emphasized in the pre-clinical years of medical school. While medical schools are beginning to offer climate change and health electives, medical education is lagging in providing fundamental climate-and-health content to adequately prepare the next generation of physicians for the challenges that they will face in the provision of healthcare and the prevention and treatment of disease. This perspective piece highlights the unique role of medical students in catalyzing the incorporation of climate content into the pre-clinical medical school curriculum and provides topics for disseminated curricular integration with the concepts emphasized in the pre-clinical years of medical education.