ABOUT US
our mission
Why care about climate change?
Did you know that in 2020, the current climate crisis has been identified as the largest global health threat of the 21st century by the WHO? As future healthcare professionals, we will undeniably be faced with the devastating consequences of climate change on the health of our patients during our years of practice. While we may be dealing with the repercussions of climate change, we must also take a step back and acknowledge the fact that ironically, healthcare institutions are a big part of the problem, with the Canadian healthcare system being the third-highest greenhouse gas emitter worldwide. With a medical curriculum that is lacking planetary health and sustainability teaching, it became apparent that we must take action.
We are a group of motivated medical students who joined forces to form McGill’s Project Green Healthcare team – a student-led initiative established by the Canadian Federation of Medical Students’ (CFMS) Health and Environment Adaptive Response Taskforce (HEART). Our project Inspire Sustainability aims to provide students with a centralized website containing: easy-to-use resources, education on sustainable alternatives, a database of climate action champions in clinical and research fields, and advocacy tools regarding planetary health.
We truly hope that our colleagues in medicine and allied health professionals will have fun while going through our simple educational modules and be able to integrate sustainable actions in their future clinical practice! Together, we have the power to build a brighter, greener and healthier future.
Project Green Healthcare
Project Green Healthcare/Projet Vert la Santé (PGH) is the first-of-its-kind national community of practice of medical students leading quality improvement projects to advance ecologically-sustainable healthcare across Canada. PGH is administered by the Canadian Federation of Medical Students – Health and Environment Adaptive Response Taskforce (CFMS HEART) and funded by a CFMS Strategic Innovation Fund operating grant that equips student teams with up to $2000 of financial support and partners them with mentors from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care (CCGHC). Teams are also informed of the best practices in sustainable healthcare quality improvement through an open-access ‘Primer on Greening Healthcare for Healthcare Students’. The current program includes nine teams of over 50 medical students distributed over seven Canadian medical schools working with interdisciplinary champions to effect change at their local healthcare institutions in five Canadian provinces. The PGH program aims to empower medical student-driven local innovation to permit timely wins in green healthcare delivery, and to inform the rapid scale-up of effective local quality improvement project designs on a national scale. For more information about our program and cohort teams, please see their website.
meet our team
alice Shen
CO-FOUNDER
Alice is a medical student at McGill (class of 2023) who believes that physicians should play important roles in advocating for sustainability and addressing planetary health in their practices.
Alice has been involved in health advocacy through radio and media production during her undergraduate studies as the coordinator of Health on Earth radio at CKUT 90.3FM. Since 2020, she has also been involved in the generation of McGill’s Planetary Health Report Card by evaluating McGill’s medical school curriculum, resources and support for planetary health education. Along with Jiayin Huang and Owen Luo, Alice was part of the team that won first place in 2020’s Sustainable Health Care Virtual Challenge hosted by Emerging Leaders for Environmental Sustainability in Healthcare (ELESH) at University of Toronto.
Alice believes it’s important for physicians to advocate for sustainability in healthcare and is thrilled to help medical students learn more about how to make healthcare greener!
tania Morin
CO-FOUNDER
Tania is a medical student at McGill University (class of 2024). She is a strong believer that healthcare professionals will need to play a dual role as healers of our planet and of its inhabitants.
In the past, Tania has been involved in the student life of her high school as the President of the Student Council. In CÉGÈP, she studied the Sciences, Lettres et Arts program at Collège André-Grasset, where she dedicated most of her time to being part of their track and tennis teams. She has had quite a few leadership and teamwork experiences in the 2020-2021 McGill school year as she has been actively involved in numerous planetary health initiatives. Namely, she stands on IFMSA-QC’s Planetary Health Taskforce, on the MSS’s Government Affairs and Advocacy Committee (GAAC) in order to promote research and training in political advocacy amongst students, and she is the co-founder of the MSS’s new Sustainability Committee. Also, she is a member of Synergie Santé Environnement’s (an NPO) Managing Board since 2020!
In sum, Tania has found her voice in advocating for a brighter and healthier future, by joining efforts with a great team of engaged students!
Jiayin Huang
CO-FOUNDER
Jiayin is a medical student at McGill University (class of 2023). She hopes to contribute to building a brighter and greener future for her generation and those that follow. Collaboration is key to heal the world one step at a time.
Jiayin has been involved in climate action advocacy and projects since her high school and CÉGÈP days where she participated in local initiatives aiming to reduce waste and promote sustainable ecosystems. In the 2020-2021 school year, Jiayin has realized that the healthcare system she will one day be a part of is a major contributor to global carbon emission and thus further contributing to our current climate emergency.
Along with a team of driven and like-minded individuals, Jiayin promotes and advocates for greener practices within our healthcare institutions and helps equip medical students with the tools necessary to greening healthcare.
Justin Ballick
Content and Graphics Creation
Justin is a medical student at McGill University (class of 2024). He strongly believes in the power of collective action in addressing global issues and is committed to identify original strategies for medical students to help limit the environmental footprint of healthcare.
Ariana Szilagyi
Content and Graphics Creation
Ariana is a medical student at McGill University (class of 2023). She hopes to educate on global health issues and sustainable practices in the health care community. She strongly believes that we must work together in order to heal our planet and create a brighter future.
Camille Rochefort
Content and Graphics Creation
Camille is a medical student at McGill University (class of 2024). She believes that, since environmental health is closely linked to physical health, it is our duty as physicians to strive for green and sustainable alternatives in healthcare and in our everyday lives.
Antoine Picard
Content and Graphics Creation
Antoine is a medical student at McGill University (class of 2024). He more recently got interested in the impact that the healthcare system has on pollution and climate change and how to improve it. He believes it is something crucial to learn about and to advocate for.
Charles Tessier
Social Media Promotion & Content and Graphics Creation
Charles is a medical student at McGill University (class of 2024) and he has always been involved in projects that try to create a more sustainable and healthy future. During his Med-P year, he joined the project ACCESS RIPAJ, a research project that aimed to optimize the access of all mental health services to teenagers and young adults aged 12-25. He’s been involved in various initiatives that address public health issues since high school, and getting involved in the Inspire Sustainability project was a logical next step in his journey!Â
Anda Gaita
Social Media Promotion and Graphics Creation
Anda is a medical student at McGill University (class of 2024). She hopes to contribute to the elaboration and implementation of greener practices within the healthcare system. She strongly believes that planetary health should have a focal role in the way medicine is taught and practiced.
Edith Corriveau-Parenteau
Social Media Promotion and Graphics Creation
Edith is a medical student at McGill University (class of 2023) and a Biology graduate. She strongly believes that we need to make institutional changes in order to fight climate change and she hopes to see the healthcare system and community adopting greener practices.
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