2023 Annual Symposium:
When Helping Kids Means Healing the Planet:
Climate Change and Childhood Lung Health

Stanford University School of Medicine

Berg Hall, Li Ka Shing Center and Virtual

June 19, 2023

8 am - 5:30 pm

The Center For Excellence in Pulmonary Biology's annual symposium provided wide-ranging discussion on the impact of climate change on child lung health. This free symposium, was held in person at Stanford University and virtually, and featuredexperts from around the world. We delved into the latest research and heard real-world examples that shed light on how clinicians can prepare for and respond to this coming crisis.

Topics included:

  • The impact of climate change on allergies, asthma, sleep-disordered breathing, lung development, and prenatal health
  • The relationships between geography, race, and air pollution exposure
  • How pathogens are adapting to climate change
  • Health adaptation, including early warning systems and vulnerability and adaptation assessments, and health benefits of mitigation policies
  • Prescriptions to mitigate the effects of climate change on children’s respiratory health

Symposium faculty included:

  • John Balmes, MD (University of California, San Francisco)
  • Kiros Berhane, PhD (Columbia University)
  • Marc Carmichael, MD, PhD (Stanford University)
  • Nancy Chow, PhD (CDC)
  • Gennaro D'Amato, MD (University of Naples)
  • Kristie Ebi, PhD (University of Washington)
  • Chris Field, PhD (Stanford University)
  • David Gozal, MD (University of Missouri)
  • Desiree LaBeaud, MD (Stanford University)
  • Vivian Lee, MD, PhD (Harvard University)
  • Susan Pacheco, MD (University of Texas)
  • Claudia Thompson, PhD (NIH)

Meeting chair:

  • David Cornfield, MD, Stanford University

2023 Center for Excellence Annual Symposium Complete Video Playlist

Symposium Agenda

  • 8:00 - 8:30 a.m. - Check-in, Continental Breakfast
    Li Ka Shing Berg Hall Lobby

  • 8:30 - 8:40 a.m. - David, Cornfield, MD
    Welcome and Opening Remarks 
     

Session 1: Evidence for Impacts of Climate Change on the Pediatric Respiratory System

  • 8:40 - 9:00 a.m. -  John Balmes, MD
    How Climate Change Is Impacting Children's Lung Development

  • 9:00 - 9:20 a.m. -  Gennaro D'Amato, MD
    Climate Change, Extreme Atmospheric Events and Trigger Factors of Severe Asthma

  • 9:20 - 9:40 a.m. - Cezmi Adis, PhD
    Epithelial Barrier Theory and Global Health Crisis

  • 9:40 - 10:00 am - Kristie Ebi, PhD, MPH
    Managing the Health Risks of a Changing Climate

  • 10:00 - 10:30 am - Claudia Thompson, PhD
    Keynote: Identifying and Responding to Climate Change as an Emerging Pediatric Respiratory Health, Social, Economic, and Public Health Issue

  • 10:30 - 10:40 am - Moderated Session
    Panel Discussion and Q&A

  • 10:40 - 10:55 a.m. - BREAK
     

Session 2: Aspects of Environmental Change: Burdens Borne

  • 11:00 - 11:20 a.m. - Kiros Berhane, PhD
    The Synergisitic Impacts of Climate Change and Air Polution on Children's Respiratory Health: A Global Perspective

  • 11:20 - 11:40 a.m. - Nick Nassikas, MD
    Precipitation, Pollen, and Pollution: How Our Environment Influences Childhood Respiratory Health 

  • 11:40 - 12:00 p.m. - Chris Field, PhD
    Diverse Dimensions of Climate Change / Health Connections

  • 12:00 - 12:20 p.m. - Desiree LaBeaud, MD
    Climate Change and the Plastic Pollution Crisis: Intersections of Repiratory and Infectious Diseases

  • 12:20 - 12:30 p.m. - Moderated Session
    Panel Discussion and Q&A

  • 12:30 - 1:15 p.m. - LUNCH
     

Session 3: Equity, Economics, and Climate Impacts on Respiratory Health

  • 1:20 - 1:40 p.m. - Marc Carmichael, PhD
    Climate Change and Pediatric Asthma: A View Into the Most Vulnerable Populations

  • 1:40 - 2:00 p.m. - Maya Rossin-Slater, PhD
    Extreme Heat in Early Life and Adult Earnings

  • 2:00 - 2:20 p.m. - Susan Pacheco, MBA, PhD
    The Insiduous Impact of Climate Change on Lung Health: We Must Protect Children Before They are Born

  • 2:20 - 2:40 p.m. - David Gozal, MD, MBA, PhD
    Sleep(less) in Unstable Ecosystems

  • 2:40 - 2:50 p.m. - Moderated Session
    Panel Discussion and Q&A

  • 2:50 - 3:00 p.m. - BREAK
     

Session 4: Toward Solutions

  • 3:00 - 3:30 p.m. - Vivian Lee, MD
    Keynote: Build for Resilience: A Plan to Drive Value and Tackle the Climate Crisis

  • 3:30 - 3:50 p.m. - Lisa Patel, MD
    Climate Change, Respiratory Health, and Equity: A Call to Action

  • 3:50 - 4:10 p.m. - Nancy Chow, PhD
    One Health Surveillance: Tracking Environmental Impacts on Fungal Infections

  • 4:10 - 4:20 p.m. - Moderated Session
    Panel Discussion and Q&A

  • 4:20 - 4:30 p.m. - David Cornfield, MD
    Closing Remarks: Where We Go from Here

  • 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. - NETWORKING RECEPTION

Downloadable Agenda PDF: Click here