Bio
Dr. Wray is the Lead of the Chair’s Special Initiative on Climate and Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Stanford University School of Medicine. Before this she was a Human and Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow at the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Her research focuses on the mental health impacts of climate change on young people ('emerging adults') and frontline community members, psychosocial resilience building, community-minded healing interventions, and public engagement for improved mental wellbeing and planetary health. Dr. Wray has a PhD in Science Communication from the University of Copenhagen and is a journalist, speaker, and author of two books: Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in the Climate Crisis (Knopf 2022, and a finalist for the Governor General's Award), and Rise of the Necrofauna: The Science, Ethics and Risks of De-Extinction (Greystone Books 2017). She has hosted and produced several science radio programs, podcasts and television programs for international broadcasters including the BBC and CBC, and is a TED speaker. Dr Wray is an advisor to the Climate Mental Health Network (addressing the mental health consequences of climate change through community engagement and by harnessing the power of media and technology), Climate Cares (a mental health research collaboration between the Institute of Global Health Innovation and the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London), and the Good Energy Project (a nonprofit unlocking the power of TV and film to inspire courage in the face of climate change). Dr Wray is a Chicago Council on Global Affairs Next Generation Climate Changemaker. She is also the Creator of Gen Dread (gendread.substack.com), a newsletter about building courage and taking meaningful action on the far side of climate grief.
