Chair
Savita Potarazu, MS4
George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Savita is driven to help protect our biggest playground. As an avid outdoor enthusiast, she recognizes both the positive benefits of green spaces on physical and mental health as well as the disproportionate harms of our changing climate on human health. As the current Executive Chair of MS4SF, in her second term, she is committed to promoting environmental justice in the climate action initiatives this organization undertakes. She is an MD/MPH student (‘24) at The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences and has co-led the newly established Climate Change and Human Health MD Program curriculum theme with Taylor Brewer, one of this year’s Vice Chairs. Savita plans on applying into OBGYN for residency and is incredibly passionate about the intersectionality of reproductive health, climate change, and environmental justice. Prior to her role as Executive Chair, she served as one of the Climate Smart Health Care co-chairs for MS4SF. Her organizational priorities for 2023 include expanding student representation to regions new to climate change and health, collaborating with professional medical societies on shared priorities in climate action to amplify student voices, and leading the organization’s transition to a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Instagram: @savitapotarazu
Twitter: @SavitaPotarazu
Vice Chair
Douglas Fritz, MS2
University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine
Douglas knows climate change, social justice, and health are increasingly connected, and he expects our medical schools to be on the forefront of addressing it. While his work as a Vice Chair for MS4SF is focused on addressing these expectations nationally, as a MD/PhD student in Colorado he works with local civic leaders and community members to addresses heat-stress in Denver with a fantastic team of residents, fellows, and med students in addition to his student leadership in the sustainability mission on campus. Before med school he was an infectious disease researcher at the NIH and Fulbright Scholar in North Macedonia. He received his BS in both Biology and American Studies from Saint Louis University. He’s passionate about interweaving climate change more deeply into med school curricula and elevating what physicians can to address the climate crisis
Vice Chair
Srishty Amarnani, MPH, MS2
SUNY Downstate
Srishty Amarnani is a second-year medical student at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. She serves as an advocate for her classmates on Medical Council as well as an active member of the Global Health and Health Equity, Advocacy, and Leadership pathways in her program. Before medical school, Srishty completed an MPH with an emphasis in Environmental Health at the University of California, Irvine. Before that, she completed her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Economics and Policy at University of California, Berkeley. Srishty has always been passionate about bringing awareness of the connections between human behavior, health, and climate. Last year, she served as Communications Co-Chair for MS4SF and is excited to continue to be part of a group of student leaders ready to tackle the barriers to a sustainable and disease preventative future by promoting individual, community, and societal change that will benefit us all.
Srishty.amarnani@downstate.edu
Instagram: @srishtology
Twitter handle: @srishtology
Vice Chair
Taylor Brewer, MS4
Taylor’s interest in environmental health, climate change, and related social justice began young and was fostered through a BA in Environmental Studies and a BS in Biology at The George Washington University (along with many documentary binges). She went on to serve as GW Medical School’s Climate Health Interest Group president in addition to co-pioneering GW SMHS’s newly approved Climate Change and Human Health curricula theme alongside MS4SF’s two-term Executive Chair, Savita Potarazu. Her passions include promoting knowledge and mitigation of the bridges that connect climate health, human health, and of course, environmental justice that is tightly interwoven. As she plans to apply into Pediatric for residency, she also has a special interest to integrate climate health principles into child healthcare in order to create a longitudinal mutually beneficial relationship.
Medical Students for a Sustainable Future 