Global climate change directly affects every person on the earth today. Whether this is a simple temperature rise or abnormal weather patterns to complete displacement of one’s living situation due to rising ocean waters, climate change is happening all around us. Many industries have sought to do their part to slow the progression including the migration to renewable energy resources, home solar panels, electric vehicles, or even recyclable cutlery. In medicine, we often discuss saving lives but this can come at a cost of not saving our planet. Join us as we speak with Dr. Cliff Ewbank and guest host Vennela Avula as we discuss the impact of medicine on the climate and the effect that small things can have on our overall carbon footprint such as changing anesthetics, turning off operating room lights, migration from disposable instruments, or even restricting traveling to academic conferences. The question becomes how to save a life while not simultaneously putting all lives in danger…
Dr. Clifton Ewbank: General Surgeon and Climate Change Champion
United States
“Climate-Conscious Healthcare Practices and Reducing Medicine’s Environmental Impact”
We’re excited to introduce our first guest, Dr. Cliff Ewbank is a general surgeon in private practice in the border community of Chula Vista, California. He trained at UCSF East-Bay Surgery Program and was a post-doctoral research fellow in pediatric surgery and trauma at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. He has published several papers in the field of global surgery, with a recent emphasis on the intersection of global surgery and climate change. We’re excited to hear more from him.
We are also honoured to have a special guest host with us today, Vennela Avula. Vennela is a 2nd year medical student at Johns Hopkins where she leads the environmental student organization as well as the global surgery student alliance. She went to undergrad at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and majored in environmental health. She will be leading today’s exciting discussion on climate change and why it’s important to global surgery.