The GreenHealth lab at UCSF studies the interplay between healthcare delivery and climate change, especially in the context of cancer care. We explore the impact of the healthcare sector and health institutions on the environment, and the impact of climate change on clinical care. Our findings help shape mitigation and adaptation efforts, improving hospital sustainability and creating more climate-resilient systems.
OUR RESEARCH AREAS
Impacts of Climate Change on Cancer Care
Climate-fueled events and disasters, such as wildfires and hurricanes, are a focus area for our lab. As wildfires have increased in frequency and intensity, cancer patients under treatment are at increased risk of interruptions in essential care. We have most recently studied the impact of hurricanes on the ability of radiotherapy staff and clinics to continue delivering consistent care, with implications beyond oncology care alone.
Selected Work
Decarbonization Advocacy Across Healthcare
The lab contributes to efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of healthcare, including patient travel & virtual care, faculty travel to professional conferences, clinical trial development, and the environmental impact of specific procedures – with oncology as a starting point in much of our work. In service of reducing emissions from conference travel, we developed the Network Greener Calculator to allow individuals or departments to estimate their emissions associated with traveling to or hosting a conference.
Selected Work
Healthcare Waste & Energy Reduction
Our work developing the Norcal Waste Audit Toolkit supports individuals seeking to complete a waste audit in a clinical setting. We have thus far focused on waste auditing and reduction in the context of brachytherapy procedures and are interested in applying our findings across the cancer control continuum and healthcare more broadly. We are also focused on reducing energy wastage and are currently undertaking a project metering energy use by radiologic equipment used in cancer screening and staging.
Selected Work
Life Cycle Assessment of Healthcare Processes
GreenHealth Lab is committed to promoting the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to rigorously understand the multidimensional environmental impact of healthcare processes and inform policy updates. We have published a methodology for LCA in electron beam radiation therapy and applied it to characterize the impacts of this treatment modality across multiple institutions, identifying levers for reducing environmental impact.
Selected Work
Medical Education
The lab advocates for the importance of incorporating climate change and environmental sustainability themes into healthcare professional training programs. Our recent work includes podcast episodes, presentations, and publications around climate-health education for oncology trainees.
Selected Work