Yale expert to testify at hearing on U.S. health care sustainability
Jodi Sherman, an associate professor of anesthesiology at Yale School of Medicine and of epidemiology in environmental health sciences at Yale School of Public Health, will testify Sept. 15 at a U.S. Congressional hearing on what it will take to prepare America’s health care infrastructure for the ongoing global climate crisis.
The hearing, announced by U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, is set for 11 a.m. ET. It will be livestreamed at the committee’s website.
Sherman is an internationally recognized researcher in the emerging field of sustainability in clinical care. Her research focuses on sustainability and supply chain issues in the U.S. health care industry.
“Climate change is already harming health and health care delivery,” Sherman said. “Ironically, health care is also a major contributor to environmental pollution, responsible for nearly 9% of U.S. greenhouse gases and other toxic emissions. Health systems need to urgently mitigate their pollution, and rapidly improve resilience of their supply chains and infrastructure.”
During the past decade, she and her colleagues have charted the rise in greenhouse gas emissions associated with the American health care system, analyzed the role of single-use medical devices in generating emissions, pushed for mandatory reporting and reduction of emissions, and advocated that American health care organizations produce regular, comprehensive data on their sustainability efforts.
Sherman is also founding director of the Yale Program on Healthcare Environmental Sustainability in the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health and medical director of sustainability for the Yale-New Haven Health System.
