Quick Links | Climate Change
Quick Links | Meet the Fellows
It is our pleasure to announce the William N. Rom Climate Fellowship for the 2022 – 2023 cycle. This fellowship will establish and support the “William N. Rom M.D. MPH Lecture on Environmental Justice” and student-led climate research as it hopes to advance social impact at the intersection of environmental justice and climate change.
The deadline to apply for the fellowship is September 30, 2022 at 11:55 PM. Stay tuned for more information, and the opening of the application cycle!
The health and well-being of our planet is intrinsically linked to the health and well-being of human beings. Climate change is the term used to describe the impact of greenhouse gases on the Earth’s relatively stable, natural processes. Gases like carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels prevent the sun’s heat from radiating back into space, trapping it within our atmosphere and heating up the globe.
WNR Climate Fellowship
Climate Change has become one of public health's greatest challenges: deaths arise from extreme weather events, from drought effects on food security, heat and heat waves, and forest fires and air pollution to raises in death toll from extreme weather events, fossil fuels, and rises in sea level affecting coastal populations, the WNR Climate Fellows address these public health issues with projects on climate and health. Fellows are teamed up with a faculty mentor to work on projects in a variety of fields including urban health, small island states, environmental justice, drought and storm-induced famine and public health response. The culmination of the fellowship is an Earth Day Climate Series where fellows will present their research and findings to their Global and Environmental Health peers. This event is held in April each year. Funding for these projects and an Earth Day lecture is provided by faculty member William N Rom MD, MPH.
Dr. Rom
William N. Rom
Sol and Judith Bergstein Professor of Medicine, Emeritus; Research Scientist; Research Professor, NYU School of Medicine
Meet the Fellows
Indeep Janda
Indeep is a 2nd year MPH student at the School of Global Public Health, with a concentration in Global Health. She's a graduate of the Ohio State University, where she earned dual degrees in Biology and French Studies. In addition to her work as a William N. Rom Climate Fellow, she serves as a co-Director of the Applied Global Public Health Initiative (AGPHI), a student-run consulting lab/organization at GPH. Her interest in the intersection of climate change and public health comes from her love of the environment, and belief that the natural environment and humans are not separate entities. Also, the fact that climate change disproportionately affects vulnerable populations is something that she thinks all people should be cognizant of and concerned about.
Her climate fellowship project is a research project, studying the informal economic sector of waste-pickers (people who collect and recycle discarded items with some value to sell or for personal consumption). She is reviewing and analyzing the available literature on this topic to create an understanding of the relationship between the waste pickers, the work they do, and climate change. She hopes this work will help provide understanding on how this vulnerable subset of the population is more affected by the effects of climate change, and the impacts of their work.
"Waste Pickers & Climate Change"
Khadija Kamara
Khadija Kamara is a Masters of Public Health student concentrating in Community Health Sciences and practice. As a Sierra Leonean-American, she is dedicated to developing culturally sensitive, community-based, sustainable projects especially in the West African context. She aims to improve health quality, access and infrastructure in underserved Communities. As a Willam N. Rom Climate Fellow, Khadija will be studying how lack of heat affects black women’s maternal and fetal health outcomes in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York by conducting community surveys of 35-45 pregnant black women and conducting two focus groups from the target population during the colder months (Dec-Feb).
She designed and implemented Project Uman Na Power in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Through this project, she dispersed reusable pads to girls attending 7 secondary schools, a disabled community, female prison and mosque. Through this project, she encouraged community conversations through community meetings that prompted education and discussion about typically taboo topics like family planning, menstruation, etc. Ms. Kamara worked has worked as a COVID-19 contact tracer since 2020 and was recently awarded the Patricia M. Carey Changemaker Award.
"The Effects of Extreme Heat and Cold on Pregnant Black Women Living in East Flatbush, New York"
Ashlynn McCool
Ashlynn McCool (she/her) is a second-year MPH candidate concentrating in Global Health at NYU’s School of Global Public Health. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health from San Diego State University where her interest and passion for climate change impact mitigation began. After coming to NYU, Ashlynn joined the student-run consulting initiative, the Applied Global Public Health Initiative, where she is now team lead of the Climate Change Task Force and co-Director of the initiative. She uses systems thinking and other evidence-based practices to integrate social, environmental, and health equity into all that she does because she recognizes the collective impact on public health. Moreover, Ashlynn acknowledges that vulnerable populations, who already face systemic oppression and exploitation, will also be hit hardest by the impacts of climate change. Ultimately, Ashlynn believes that health is a human right - she strives to create resilient, sustainable, and equity-centered solutions that will strengthen populations and engender global health justice.
Ashlynn’s William N. Rom Climate Change Fellowship project is a research project that focuses on the inequitable impacts of climate change. Specifically, she is conducting a literature review to identify and analyze how disproportionate exposures to climate change effects are impacting the health outcomes of already vulnerable socioeconomic and race/ethnicity groups. Ashlynn hopes that her research will support, contribute to, and advance effective climate change mitigation strategies that prioritize the health of the most vulnerable.
"Climate Change, Air Pollution and the Impacts on Pregnancy Outcomes"
Mackenzie Stoeltje
Mackenzie Stoeltje is a graduate student pursuing her Master of Public Health in NYU's Global Public Health program. She is currently working on a variety of projects ranging from climate change and animal behavioral studies to research on trauma-informed practices in correctional facilities and LGBTQ+ health disparities. Her project for the William N. Rom Climate Fellowship focuses on community perceptions regarding climate change, the illegal fishing industry, and the health of coral reefs in the Mexican Caribbean.
"The Ocean Economy and Human Health"
Emily Zambiazzi
Emily is an MPH candidate in the global health concentration interested in the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations. She is originally from Vermont, where she received my undergraduate degree in nursing at the University of Vermont. Her fellowship research uses a systems thinking approach to map the complex causes and consequences of food insecurity in southern Madagascar. Emily and her team plan to collaborate with individuals and stakeholders who are personally affected by food insecurity in southern Madagascar to create a comprehensive systems map, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of current interventions.
