Climate, Health, and Policy in Maryland

Hands holding up a globe with the Maryland flag pattern

Climate change is affecting everyone. And it will take everybody working together to develop meaningful solutions!

Come spend a day of active learning with climate change and health equity thought leaders, University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, College Park faculty and students, and local climate nonprofit and community groups.

Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025
Registration: 8:30 a.m., Conference: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

4 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 2nd Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201

Register Now


Why You Should Attend:

Learn: Gain insights from climate leaders working across disciplines.

Collaborate: Connect with university colleagues and community organizations dedicated to climate, health equity, and environmental justice.

Act: Engage in discussions that will lead to action-oriented solutions and join community groups making a difference now.

 

Lunchtime Keynote Speaker:

Comptroller Brooke E. LiermanComptroller Brooke E. Lierman, the 34th Comptroller of Maryland

Comptroller Lierman is the first woman to be independently elected to one of our state's constitutional offices. She is an attorney by training, practicing as a civil rights and disability rights lawyer for many years, and prior to her election as Comptroller, she served for eight years as a member of the House of Delegates representing part of Baltimore City. Her talk will focus a report that outlines the categories and types of costs associated with climate change, followed by an examination of the costs of both action and inaction on climate change and its impacts.

 

Time Session
8:30 - 9 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast
9 - 9:15 Welcome

Snehal Patel, MD, MHS
Robyn Gilden, PhD, RN

9:15 -10:15 Too Hot to Handle: Health, Heat, and Climate Standards

Moderator: Karin Russ, JD, MS, RN

  • Christopher Lemon, MD
  • Marianne Cloeren, MD, MPH
  • Steven Deck, DM, MBA
10:15 - 11:30 Federal Climate Science and Law Update: Looking Ahead 

Moderator: Timothy Canty, PhD

  • Seema Kakade, JD
  • Lars Peter Riishojgaard, PhD
  • Alfredo Ruiz-Barradas, PhD
11:30 - 11:45 Break
11:45 a.m. - noon Patrick O’Shea, PhD, MS, Vice President for Research
University of Maryland Baltimore and College Park 
noon - 12:30 p.m.

Keynote: “The Cost of Climate Change”

Brooke Lierman, Esq., Comptroller of Maryland

12:30 - 1 p.m. Lunch and Visit with Community Organizations
1 - 2 p.m.

UMB Provost's Climate Health and Resilience Summer Student Interns' Project Presentations

Moderator: Shiladitya DasSarma, PhD

  • Medical Student Perspectives on the Intersection Between Climate Change and Ophthalmology, Joyce Wang, Medical Student
  • Using Group Therapy Processes to Manage and Organize for Extreme Climate Events,
    Thomas Northrup, Social Work Student
  • Health Damages from Municipal and Medical Waste Incineration in Baltimore,
    Kevin Tu, Medical Student
  • Thermostable Gas Vesicle Nanoparticle-Based Malaria Vaccines: A Climate-Adaptive Approach to Combat Expanding Vector-Borne Disease Transmission,
    Gertie Mah, Medical Technology Student
2 -  2:45 Break and Visit with Community Organizations
2:45 - 3:50

Maryland Climate Law and Advocacy 

Moderator: Bill Piermattei, JD

  • Marisa Olszewski, MS
  • Brittany Baker, MA, BS
  • Jen Brock, MS
3:50 - 4

Closing: Innovation in Maryland

Dean Kenneth Wong, PhD

UMB's Office of Sustainability Swap Party is occurring on the 1st floor from noon - 4 p.m. and is open to community members, faculty, staff, and students.

Funding for this symposium is from the UMB Interprofessional Education Center.