The Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University announced today that it received a two-year, $1.2 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to establish a new Health and Climate Solutions Hub.
The project will extend the important climate and health work already being done at Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication – which conducts communication research and serves as the home for the Medical Society Consortium for Climate and Health – and will help contribute to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s commitment to building a national Culture of Health.
The project is being co-led by Mark Mitchell – a new member of the Mason faculty who is a leading expert in environmental health and health equity – and Mason Center for Climate Change Communication Director Edward Maibach.
“We are very pleased for the opportunity to support the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s efforts to promote better health through climate solutions,” Maibach said. “It reflects our deep commitment to research and community service in the area of climate and health.”
“The foundation’s focus on enhancing health equity through climate solutions is critically important,” Mitchell said. “Members of low-income and communities of color in America are being hurt first and worst by the health harms of climate change.”
Alonzo Plough, vice president and chief science officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, called the Hub critical to better long-term health.
“Our vision for a Culture of Health, one in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to lead a healthy life, depends on communities that are able to respond to the health impacts of our changing climate,” he said.
An advisory board composed of thought leaders working at the intersection of climate and health will also be assembled, helping to guide the project and monitor emerging research in the field.
The project team hopes to issue a call for proposals by the end of this year and award grants in 2019.