Amy Kalkbrenner, a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Joseph J. Zilber College of Public Health, is part of a research team led by Jonathan Patz at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They recently received a P20 grant from the National Institutes of Health for a project called “A Community-Driven, Health-First Approach to Climate Action and the Energy Transition.”
This new center will work with communities to explore preferred actions that can be taken to fight climate change, from local neighborhoods to the national level. The research team will model potential reductions in air pollution following these climate actions, ultimately estimating the health improvements that may result. Dr. Kalkbrenner will specifically study how these changes could affect asthma burden in children in Milwaukee.
Ultimately, the Health-First Climate Action Research Center will help to guide societal-level choices that optimize curbing climate change while best supporting the public’s health.