Chair Information

2022 MS4SF Leadership Team Role Descriptions and Responsibilities

As a member of the national leadership team, all Chairs are responsible for welcoming new members, answering member questions, engaging member conversations in Slack, attending monthly leadership meetings, and supporting other subcommittees. All Chair(s) will have the opportunity to recruit sub-chair positions for their committees to support specific projects. 

(Estimated 5 hours/month in addition to role-specific leadership responsibilities)

Applications due 10/17/21 to Natasha Sood at nsood@pennstatehealth.psu.edu   

Executive Chair

Vice Chairs (2)

Advocacy Chairs (2)

Research Chairs (2)

Communication Chairs (2)

Partnership Chairs (2)

Curriculum Chairs (2)

Climate Smart Health Care Chairs (2)

Finance Chair (2)

Special Interests & Projects

Plant Based Health Chair (2)

Ocean Health Chair (2)

Planetary Health Report Card Leadership Committee

Executive Chair

The Executive Chair oversees Medical Students for a Sustainable Future as a whole, supporting each chair on their projects, facilitating development, implementing strategy, and directing organizational structure and logistics. The Executive Chair supports and embodies the mission and principles of the group as a whole and mobilizes the entire leadership team to achieve MS4SF goals and priorities. 

To support the leadership team, the Executive Chair is responsible for:

• Meeting with each Chair individually every 4-6 weeks to support ongoing work and track against goals. 
• Facilitating full leadership team meetings (every 6-8 weeks) to identify opportunities for full collaboration and further idea development.
• Leading full membership meetings (at least once every 6 months) to engage all MS4SF members fully.

To implement strategy and facilitate development, the Executive Chair is responsible for:

• Seeking, responding to, and addressing member feedback and suggestions.
• Cultivating MS4SF voice to amplify important messages on behalf of the organization.
• Searching for development opportunities and partnerships to help grow the MS4SF voice and achieve goals.

There is ample opportunity in this role for creativity in implementing innovative efforts. The Executive Chair must be a self-starter, demonstrate excellent time-management and commitment to work, and understand nuances of leadership across a peer-run organization.

Questions about this role? Please reach out to the 2021 MS4SF Executive Chair, Natasha Sood, on Slack. 

Vice Chairs (2)

The Vice Chairs assist the Chair in overseeing Medical Students for a Sustainable Future as a whole, supporting each chair on their projects, facilitating development, implementing strategy, and directing organizational structure and logistics. The Vice Chairs support the mission of MS4SF and help the Chair mobilize the leadership team to achieve MS4SF goals and priorities. 

To support the leadership team, the Vice Chairs are specifically responsible for:

• Meeting with each team of Sub-Chairs every 4-6 weeks to support ongoing projects and team development.
• Aid the Executive Chair in facilitating full leadership team meetings (every 6-8 weeks) to identify opportunities for full collaboration and further idea development.
• Aid the Executive Chair in leading full membership meetings (at least once every 6 months) to engage all MS4SF members fully.
• Fulfill the responsibilities of the Executive Chair at meetings, on projects, etc., when the Executive Chair is unavailable. 

To implement strategy and facilitate development, the Vice Chairs are responsible for:

• Creating feedback mechanisms for leadership.
• Cultivating MS4SF voice to amplify important messages on behalf of the organization.
• Searching for development opportunities and partnerships to help grow MS4SF..

Questions about this role? Please reach out to the 2021 MS4SF Vice Chair, Sarah Hsu, on Slack. 

Advocacy Chairs (2)

The Advocacy team mobilizes coordinated medical student actions and advocates for policy solutions that fit the scale of the climate crisis. The Advocacy Chairs will continue to develop MS4SF’s advocacy platform and facilitate climate, health, and justice centered advocacy actions for medical students. While there is ample room for flexibility and creativity in the process, Advocacy Chairs support efforts at institutional, state, and national levels.

At an institutional level this generally includes supporting medical students to:

• Petition and advocate to campus leadership for climate action at all levels of the institution including curriculum, research, GHG emissions / sustainability, and community engagement, in collaboration with the Planetary Health Report Card team.
• Encouraging institutional leaders to use their leadership roles for public climate advocacy.

At the state and national level this generally includes:

• Organizing advocacy actions for students, such as the Earth Day Video or the Election scorecard and storytelling campaigns. In these larger actions, the Chairs are often supported by the broader leadership team.
• Facilitating engagement between MS4SF members and their state elected officials by reviewing key legislation and creating or identifying call and meeting scripts for climate advocacy.
• Supporting our partnership with a national health insurer-focused fossil fuel divestment campaign (day-to-day activities are led by our student divestment lead, Ishaan Shah. Campaign to launch in October-November 2020). 
•  Endorsing sign-on letters and policy platforms on behalf of MS4SF, in collaboration with the MS4SF Executive Chair(s).
• Establishing relationships and communicating with advocacy partners such as Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health.

Chairs have the freedom to determine the team’s commitments. An average week may require 3-4 hours of work, but the time spent per week varies greatly around events such as Earth Day or a project deadline.

Questions about this role? Please reach out to current MS4SF Advocacy Co-Chairs, Ellen Townley and David Mazumder, on Slack.

Research Chairs (2)

The Research Chairs help our community stay informed by creating a database of relevant articles and discussing current literature on the intersections between climate and health. They also support members in initiating research projects, facilitating collaborations within our group, and connecting students to research mentors.

Some specific responsibilities include:

• Maintain and update research databases, including abstracts and reviews of each article in collaboration with Research Database Sub-Chair.
• Oversee journal club planning in collaboration with journal club sub-chair.  
• Identify research mentors and facilitate the collaboration of students and research mentors on both local and national projects.
• Brainstorm ideas for member-generated research projects that expand on current knowledge of the intersections between climate and health.
• Assist with Earth Day Symposium planning and support students seeking to initiate research projects to be presented at the annual symposium.
• Collaborate with the Communications team to publicize new climate and health research on social media to increase broader engagement with research.
• Maintain open lines of communication with the Executive and Vice Chairs. 

Questions about this role? Please reach out to current MS4SF Research Co-Chairs, Emily Gentile and Mary Sun, on Slack.

Communication Chairs (2)

The Communication Chairs create powerful communications tools that allow knowledge-sharing and interdisciplinary collaboration and maintain accessible social media platforms. Chairs will have the opportunity to recruit sub-chair positions for their committees to support specific projects. 

Responsibilities include:

• Manage MS4SF’s social media presence across three platforms, Twitter, Instagram, & Facebook, engaging with followers, promoting activities of allied organizations, and providing educational & inspirational content around climate change, health, & justice. Work closely with other MS4SF teams to promote events and initiatives by creating and sharing content or posting pre-made content. (Plan to post 2-3 times per week across platforms) 
• Maintain and add to the MS4SF website, including adding new leaders profiles and designing new pages as seen fit, updating “Member Voices” & “Member Experiences” regularly to reflect new member publications, updating “About MS4SF” regularly to reflect membership growth, and creating and/or updating other pages as needed.
• Coordinate MS4SF Monthly Newsletter.
• Initiate media trainings and coordinate opportunities to amplify messages for MS4SF campaigns.
• Lead efforts for editorials and support medical student publications.
• Help lead or plan any other events/initiatives that come up or as desired. 

Questions about this role? Please reach out to current MS4SF Communications Co-Chairs, Darby Keirns and Srishty Amarnani, on Slack.

Partnership Chairs (2)

The Partnership Chairs lead collaboration and partnerships with organizations whose missions and values align with our own to increase impact and reach. Chairs will have the opportunity to recruit sub-chair positions for their committees to support specific projects. 

Responsibilities are as follows:

• Field communications from like-minded organizations, both nationally and globally, interested in partnering & collaborating with MS4SF. This includes scheduling & attending calls with potential partners. 
• Track and manage pending & potential partnerships, as well as update guidelines for evaluating and designing burgeoning partnerships.
• Manage and conduct outreach with our Chapters & Affiliates at member medical schools across the country, including: overseeing semesterly project tracking form to Chapters & Affiliates and responding to individual emails in a timely manner from our MS4SF Gmail account.
• Continue expanding the MS4SF network by recruiting general members, Campus Communications Representatives, & Chapters/Affiliates from new schools.
• Maintain and build a robust alumni network and program, including: design and implement ways for alumni to stay engaged and involved.
• Develop and manage MS4SF’s mentor & mentee program to connect pre-med students with MS4SF members and to foster connections between MS4SF members and physicians working in climate & health.
• Develop and lead global health engagement with MS4SF medical student members, specifically MS4SF members outside of the US, by organizing 2-3 events per year where medical students outside of the US can directly engage with MS4SF and network with each other. 

Questions about this role? Please reach out to current MS4SF Partnerships Co-Chairs, Lena Randle and Joie Akerson, on Slack.

Curriculum Chairs (2)

The Curriculum Chairs advocate for medical school curriculum reform to include the intersection of climate change, health, and health care delivery so we are prepared to care for our patients and build resilient health systems in the face of a changing climate. We advocate for medical school curriculum reform to include the intersection of climate change, health, and health care delivery. We work with medical schools across the nation to create standardized core competencies for a climate-health curriculum.

Responsibilities include: 

• Curriculum Guide
  • Oversee the Curriculum Guide team, which works to collect examples of med school curriculum, lectures, proposals and releasing an updated version of the Curriculum Guide pdf via Canva annually 
• Podcast Liaison
  • Work with podcast team “Code Green: The Climate-Smart Health Professional” to recruit guest writers, producers, and interviewees 
• Partnerships
  • Maintain main partnership with Global Consortium on Climate and Health at Columbia University and Medical Consortium Society for Climate Change and Health
  • Other partnerships include: American Medical Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, PHysicians for Human Rights, Health Care Without Harm
• Planetary Health Report Card Consultant
  • Consult and advice the PHRC team on the Curriculum section of the report
• Look for opportunities to advance climate health education at both the medical school level and state/national physician advocacy level. Examples include:
  • Presenting posters or speeches at MedED or climate change and health conferences (ex: CleanMed, MGH Climate Change & Health Symposium)
  • Sharing opportunities to engage in climate change education in the monthly newsletter, whether it be free/paid online classes, conferences, etc 
• Writing op-eds and assisting MS4SF members on writing on climate-health education for lay media and/or academic journals
• Identifying gaps in climate change education and creating toolkits or guides to help medical students fill in those gaps. 

Questions about this role? Please reach out to current MS4SF Curriculum Co-Chairs, Jackie Shen and Jessmehar Walia, on Slack.

Climate Smart Health Care Chairs (2)

The Climate Smart Health Care Chairs work to align with the “do no harm” credo of physicians by improving the resiliency of health care facilities in the face of climate change. They facilitate sustainability initiatives at medical schools and their associated health care systems by collecting resources for and providing support to individuals hoping to lead such endeavors.

The Climate Smart Health Chairs foster Climate Smart Health Care by:

• Promoting Climate Smart initiatives among medical institutions, particularly medical schools.
• Increasing understanding and awareness of:  
  • The ways in which the healthcare industry contributes to environmental harms, and 
  • The various strategies necessary to mitigate and adapt to those harms. 
• Continuously expanding and improving the Climate Smart Health Care Guide. 
• Maintaining the MS4SF Climate Smart Monthly, highlighting a Climate Smart project, preferably led by a medical student. 
• Serving as a resource for MS4SF members hoping to take on Climate Smart initiatives. 

The Climate Smart Health Care Chair is responsible for membership engagement (responding to emails, Slack, and ongoing meetings), maintaining the Climate Smart Monthly (researching a topic, conducting interviews, writing the newsletter), and expanding and improving the Climate Smart Health Care Guide, as well as facilitating any other ongoing projects.

Questions about this role? Please reach out to current MS4SF Climate Smart Health Care Co-Chairs, Aaron Rosenblum and Savita Patarazu, on Slack.

Finance Chair (2)

The Finance Chair works closely with the Executive Chair and Vice Chair to manage the financial future of MS4SF. This will entail navigating the process of obtaining funding or other sponsorship for the organization as well as managing relationships with current funding sources.  

The Finance Chairs are responsible for the following: 

• Curating a list of grant and scholarship opportunities for MS4SF members so that groups and individuals may apply for funding outside of the organization.  
• Manage a record of MS4SF’s inflows and outflows and communicate with accounting and law professionals to ensure proper alignment with organizational status.  
• Brainstorm marketing opportunities for MS4SF and work with other Co-Chairs to utilize funds to gain financial sponsors.  

The Finance Chairs should expect to work with all teams of MS4SF, and it is our hope that we can offer monetary support to each aspect of the organization as well as members and school chapters.

Questions about this role? Please reach out to current MS4SF Finance Chair, Kali Sullivan, on Slack.

Special Interests & Projects

Plant Based Health Chair (2)

The Plant Based Health Liaison engages medical students in education on plant-based eating patterns and the relationship between food, health, and climate change. The Liaison incorporates plant-based nutrition into MS4SF advocacy, research, and curricular reform to further our climate goals.

As a member of the larger leadership team your responsibilities include but are not limited to: Strategic planning, fostering member involvement, building our network of students including the alumni network, quarterly  team meetings, monthly news updates, and engagement in Slack conversations. 

Questions about this role? Please reach out to current MS4SF Plant Based Health Liaison, Shravya Dindu, on Slack.

Ocean Health Chair (2)

The mission of the Ocean Health Liaison is to engage medical students on the interconnectedness between our world’s oceans and human health. As the liaison you will work with our larger leadership team to advocate for the health of our oceans from finding current research to advocating about current threats to our ocean health. Further, you will look to develop partnerships and events with institutions dedicated to research and education to advance the understanding of the ocean, challenges that threaten its health, and the role of the physician in its healing. 

We are looking for someone who is passionate about ocean health, climate change, and human health, but further someone who can see how they are all interconnected in the health of our patients. The time commitment to this position is what you make of it, you will be the voice of ocean health in this space and with that is a responsibility to stay up to date on current events and think innovatively of how to integrate ocean health awareness within your everyday practice. 

As a member of the larger leadership team your responsibilities include but are not limited to: strategic planning, fostering member involvement, and building our network of students including our alumni network, quarterly team meetings, monthly news updates, and engagement in slack conversations. 

Questions about this role? Please reach out to current MS4SF Ocean Health Liaison, Kelly Williamson, on Slack.

Planetary Health Report Card Leadership Committee

The Planetary Health Report Card is a medical-student-driven, metric-based initiative launched in 2019 designed to inspire international medical schools to introduce climate change and planetary health into the medical school curriculum, expand research efforts, engage with communities most affected by climate change and environmental injustice, support passionate students who are trying to organize around planetary health at the institutional level, and integrate sustainable practices. For more information, visit phreportcard.org. 

While you do not have to be on the leadership team to evaluate your medical school using the report card metrics, those on the PHRC leadership committee will help: 

• Refine metrics using expert feedback and planetary health literature
• Recruit additional medical schools to be involved
• Provide feedback on school-specific report cards and compile the report card results into a final report
• Write blurbs, articles, and social media posts to expand the initiative audience
• Partner with community and medical organizations to share the initiative 
• Plan strategically for future directions of the initiative 

Time commitment: up to you
Interested in a role on this committee or questions about this role? Please reach out to current MS4SF PHRC Lead, Karly Hampshire, on Slack or via karly.hampshire@ucsf.edu  with a brief statement of interest.