Medical Students for a Sustainable Future (MS4SF) is the brain child of a fourth-year medical student in the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), Harleen Marwah. It is a network of medical students who recognize climate change as an urgent threat to health and social justice which currently hosts over 130 members from 25 states and 39 medical schools. It was developed from Marwah’s advocacy for policies to help counter the health effects of climate change worldwide. Marwah received help for this initiative from her mentor, Amy Collins, MD, who is the leader of the Health Care Without Harm Physician Action Network, where she petitioned her idea to begin a student action group comprised of medical students at institutions across the country that are concerned about the health consequences of climate change. Especially in the time of COVID-19, the existing strains of the health care system are only worsened by this pandemic affecting not only frontline workers but also marginalized communities. The same will hold similarly true for the climate crisis.
Climate change has become an increasingly pressing concern for medicine, with medical students taking the lead on being well versed with climate change related issues that will impact their future patients. Rose Milando, a fourth-year SMHS medical student declares: "We have the tools to be practitioners for a better society and a healthier planet, and we have strong voices as physicians to encourage change and offer solutions,” she said. “We just have to be aware of these large global systems at play, be taught to understand their impact on human health, and be given the tools by our institutions to become activists and physicians not only for individuals, but for communities and for the planet.”
Other medical students joined MS4SF because of their already firsthand experience of climate change, such as Samantha Sobelman, a fourth-year SMHS MD student, who has personal experience of wildfires in California and said “I worry about what our future will look like, but if we keep sustainability and the climate crisis in mind while creating policies, we can hope to flatten our curve on detrimental climate behaviors and be better prepared to take on the challenges it is already bringing.”
Marwah highlights the pressing need for climate change advocacy and education where she encouraged additions of climate change to the school's curriculum so that the next generation of physicians can better understand the health impacts of climate change on their future patients. “While global health experts have referred to climate change as a leading threat to global health, it is also an opportunity to reimagine a healthier and more equitable future,” she said. “As a medical student, I feel the urgency to address this issue. As a future physician, I recognize the power of my voice and plan to use it to advocate for the needs of the most vulnerable."
To learn more about Medical Students for a Sustainable Future, visit the website https://ms4sf.org/ and check out their video below made for Earth Day where they champion to vote for climate advocates and consider health, hope, and humanity this fall [1].
1. On Earth Day, Medical Students are Standing Up in the Fight Against Climate Change | The School of Medicine & Health Sciences. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2020, from https://smhs.gwu.edu/news/earth-day-medical-students-are-standing-fight-against-climate-change