Our Leadership Team

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 do to address the climate crisis.

Raushun is a second-year MD-MPH candidate at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). After graduating from Stanford University in 2022 with a B.S. in Human Biology and a minor in History, he served as a Clinical Research Coordinator on a Long COVID study at UCSF. As the Recruitment Lead, he worked with community centers around the Bay Area to spread awareness about the disease. His interest in the intersection between public health and medicine spurred a desire to explore the effect of climate change on health, and he looks forward to promoting sustainable practices and forming partnerships with local and global actors in the climate health space.

Melissa is a 3rd year medical student at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She received her undergraduate degree from Macalester College, where she studied Biochemistry. In medical school, Melissa is co-Chair of her school’s MS4SF chapter and a member of the Sustainability Committee on Student Council. She has worked to improve access to composting for medical students and has led efforts to incorporate content on climate and health into the preclinical curriculum. Her research interests include the health impacts of extreme heat on pregnant people and gaps in health policy protections for populations vulnerable to heat exposure. In her free time, she enjoys running and knitting and she sings alto in New York Chamber Choirs.

Forest is a second-year medical student at the University of Utah. He has always been interested in environmentalism and is working to one day be a medical director of sustainability and help lead a more sustainable and equitable healthcare system. For now he is passionate about planetary health curriculum reform and advocating for climate change being included in our training of future physicians. On the national level, he would like to assist other students interested in curriculum reform and integrate more planetary health into medical licensing exams. He is also an avid skier, backpacker, and loves corny rom coms.

Alex is a first-year medical student at Brown. After graduating from Brown in 2024 with a degree in Hispanic Studies and Biology, he moved a whopping half-mile to start medical school. He is involved in Brown’s environmental group, ECo, through which he has partnered with local tree-planting organizations and helped out a pilot composting initiative at Rhode Island Hospital. Ultimately, he hopes to merge his career as a physician with interests in planetary and global health. Beyond environmental sustainability, Alex is passionate about ice-y New England skiing and plant-based cooking (particularly anything that involves lentils). 

Kathy (she/her) is a second year graduate student pursuing her MD/PhD through the Graduate Partnership Program at the Medical College of Georgia and the National Institutes of Health. She has long held personal interests in sustainability and environmental advocacy and is thrilled at the opportunity to work with MS4SF to incorporate this passion into medical school and healthcare initiatives. She strongly believes that work needs to be done to help address the climate crisis in every sector. For undergrad, she attended Emory University where she received degrees in both Biology and Music Performance. She is interested in pursuing oncology in the future.

Amal is a first year student at Georgetown. She received her undergraduate degree from Emory University and graduated from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory with a MPH in Environmental Health. She is passionate about the intersection between medicine and the environment with a particular interest in climate change, heat, infectious disease, and sustainability.

Annalise is a first year student at the Tulane School of Medicine. After graduating from the University of Colorado Boulder with degrees in Integrative Physiology and Biochemistry, she moved to England to pursue a Master of Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her dissertation examined barriers to healthcare accessibility in the aftermath of natural disasters. This past year, she worked for the Colorado Department of Public Health this past year, coordinating mental health resources for healthcare workers to increase workforce resiliency and retention. Annalise is committed to exploring the impact of climate change and natural disasters at the crossroads of public health, medicine, and the environment. Climate disasters are only increasing, and she believes it is our responsibility as future medical professionals to advocate and adapt to sustainable practices.

Navya is a first year student at the Tulane School of Medicine. She received her Bachelor’s
Degree in Biology with a minor in History from the University of Maryland. Navya’s early
education greatly emphasized having a connection to the natural world and understanding the
impact that humans can have on it. As an aspiring pediatrician, she understands the importance
of preserving the world for future generations and creating a more sustainable future.

Siddhi is currently a second-year medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School. Born in India and immigrating to the United States at a young age, Siddhi witnessed how vastly different climate and environments affect the way we live, work, and take care of each other. She completed her BS at Penn State University Park, which sparked her climate organizing, advocacy, and research efforts. After graduation, she headed back to Pune, India for a Fulbright-Nehru Research fellowship to study the impacts of climate change on the metabolic health of farmers. Through her efforts in advocacy and research, Siddhi realized she wanted to make climate change and health a central part of her career as a physician. As research chair for MS4SF, Siddhi hopes to work towards making climate and health research accessible for all!

Mia is a current third-year (nearly fourth-year ah!) medical student at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Charlotte North Carolina. She completed her undergraduate studies in biology at Davidson College in North Carolina. She’s always been interested in outdoor activities and nature but recently stumbled into the world of Healthcare Sustainability through meeting an anesthesia provider passionate about reducing the impact of the operating room on the environment. Outside of medicine, Mia loves to draw, paint, attempt to learn other languages, chat with friends, and play soccer.

Elizabeth (she/her) is a fourth year MD/MPH student at the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated with a BA in Biology and Math from Vassar College in 2019, where she did her senior thesis on the off-target environmental effects of crop insecticides. Her interest in climate stems from growing up with a conservation biologist for a father, who taught her to appreciate the importance of conservation and sustainability efforts. At Penn, she co-leads the Healthcare Sustainability Group, is part of the Planetary Health Report Card team, and is working alongside faculty to better integrate climate into medical curriculum and reduce waste production in the hospital system. She is interested in infectious disease, street medicine, and immigrant health, as well as how these intersect with climate change. Outside of medicine, Elizabeth enjoys appreciating art, sewing, long podcast walks, and hanging out with her friends and cat. 

Phoebe (she/her) is a third year medical student at the University of Pennsylvania and new to MS4SF. She graduated with a BA in Art History and Chemistry from Dartmouth College in 2020. Her interest in climate work started abroad working with refugee populations in Northern Thailand and seeing how learning from global health systems can reduce waste locally. She works with the Refugee Health Clinic at Penn and formerly served as the advocacy chair. Here she recognized the role of increasing floods, droughts, and other disasters in decreasing habitable communities and placing pressure on political and economic systems – leading to further forced migration. She currently co-leads the Healthcare Sustainability Group at Penn, advocating for climate integration into curricula and waste reduction within the hospital system. She is also passionate about the intersection of climate and the humanities, co-founding Penn’s Medical Humanities Council and creating art around these topics. Outside medicine, Phoebe enjoys dancing, long explorations around Philadelphia, and cooking with friends.