Health Impacts

Identifying and coalescing teams of researchers, educators, practitioners, and advocates commonly concerned with the full set of effects of climate change on human health.

About

Climate change hazards are associated with the prevalence and spread of several infectious diseases; climate-exacerbated non-communicable diseases (NCDs); and a growing mental health crisis linked to the stress, emotional trauma and forced displacement of climate disasters. The Health Impacts stream makes visible experts across the University working on issues and solutions to manage the impacts of climate change on health.

We seek to understand and promote the science (what are the direct and indirect effects of climate change on human health, how can those effects be mitigated?) and practice (how can community and policy efforts be mobilised to create useful change?).

Leads

Lennart Reifels - Principal Research Fellow, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

  • Lennart has extensive research and work experience in academic and national mental health service settings, encompassing research, direct service, and national management roles. His research program aims to tackle shared complex challenges with a view to advancing population mental health, suicide prevention and disaster risk reduction, including scholarly contributions in the fields of epidemiology, comparative policy, and mental health services research, and impactful research translation.

Daisy Xin Dai - Early Career Research Fellow, Allergy and Lung Health Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

  • Dr Daisy Dai is an Early Career Research Fellow at the Allergy and Lung Health Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on the long-term respiratory impacts of environmental exposures, including bushfire smoke and indoor air pollutants, and the development of preventive interventions to protect respiratory health in a changing climate.

    • Dr Dai leads several clinical and population-based studies, including the AFTERBURN study, which investigates the long-term health impacts of bushfire smoke exposure, and HEPA filtration intervention trials targeting respiratory outcomes such as asthma and COPD. With a background in nursing and clinical research, Dr Dai is passionate about integrating real-world health care perspectives into environmental health research.

Projects