Usher Institute Annual Lecture and Showcase 2022

27/10/2022

McEwan Hall, Bristo Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG

Why the climate crisis is a health crisis…and what we can do about it

The world is heating up, and scientists estimate that, unless we can rapidly reduce carbon emissions, we are only 10-15 years from tipping into catastrophic climate change.

Our health is already being directly damaged by air pollution from burning fossil fuels, and global heating is threatening our health and lives due to damaging climatic, environmental, economic, social and geopolitical instability.

It is up to each and all of us to respond to this current and present threat to our own health and our children’s future. It’s going to be a huge challenge but there is much that we can and must do.

Speaker Dr Fiona Godlee will share the climate science and the threats to health, and explore the actions we can all take to respond to this climate and health crisis.

Outline Programme:

• 12.00 – Registration, marketplace and academic posters open
• 12:30 – Networking lunch
• 13:30 – Centre for Population Health Sciences Showcase
• 14:15 – Refreshments
• 15:00 – Usher Institute Annual Lecture delivered by Dr Fiona Godlee
• 16:00 – Drinks reception
• 17:00 – Close

Speaker Dr Fiona Godlee is a medical doctor, editor, writer and campaigner. She has written, researched and lectured on a broad range of subjects, including the impact of environmental degradation on health, drug policy reform, academic peer review, open access publishing, and the need for transparency, integrity and independence in medical research, education and practice.

Fiona is a Trustee of the Eden Project and chair of Eden’s Board Affairs Committee. She helped to establish, and is an ambassador for, the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change and chair of the Youth Environmental Service.

From 2005 to 2021, Fiona  was Editor in Chief of The BMJ (British Medical Journal) and Editorial Director of its parent company BMJ. Prior to that she was the founding Director of BMJ Knowledge, founding Editorial Director for Medicine of BioMedCentral, and co-editor of Peer Review in Health Sciences. She has served as President of the World Association of Medical Editors and Chair of the Committee on Publication Ethics.