Professor Lea Berrang Ford is Head of the UKHSA Centre for Climate and Health Security and a Priestley Chair in Climate and Health at the Priestley International Centre for Climate, and an expert in climate change impacts on health, adaptation to the health effects of climate change, and the health benefits of decarbonisation. She is on the ‘Hot List of Top Climate Scientists’ (Reuters 2020, 17th among women). Berrang Ford jointly based in the School of Earth and Environment and the Nuffield Centre for Global Health & Development at the University of Leeds. She is a Lead Author on the recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report (AR6-WGII, Ch. 16). She led the Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative, an international collaboration of >125 scientists to assess evidence on progress on global adaptation to climate change. She has co-led an international, interdisciplinary project on Indigenous adaptation to the health effects of climate change since 2010, partnering with communities and researchers in Uganda, Peru, and the Canadian Arctic. Berrang Ford is a former Research Chair in Climate and Health with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Fellow. She has a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology, and training in climate science and policy.
Adverse weather matters for our health. There is a strong evidence base showing us that periods of very hot or cold weather or flooding present a wide range of direct and indirect health risks.
The start of each year is a time where we recall the previous year and anticipate the year ahead, and there’s much to reflect on.
For climate scientists, there’s no doubt that 2022 was remarkable.
There is no doubt that our changing climate is a growing health security concern. This blog explains UKHSA's new Centre for Climate and Health Security.
