Call for Abstracts: Planetary Health / GeoHealth
Planetary Health / GeoHealth Inaugural Annual Meeting
April 29 – 30, 2017
We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the inaugural Planetary Health/GeoHealth Annual Meeting on April 29-30, 2017 at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA! Be sure to register soon, as space is limited! Please visit our event website to see the developing agenda [.pdf], featuring highlights of the exciting emergence of institutions focused on planetary health around the world, cutting edge findings in planetary health science, speed talks by the next generation of planetary health scholars, real-world case studies of applying planetary health science to policy and action, and more.
A few important developments to note:
- We’ll be kicking off the conference with an opening reception on Friday, April 28th at the New England Aquarium in Boston, MA, with remarks by Dr. Jonathan Patz (Director of the Global Health Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison). Tickets will be $30/person for dinner and drinks, and must be purchased with conference registration.
- Applications are open for competitively awarded travel scholarships to offset costs of attendance to support students and early career investigators who would otherwise be unable to attend, particularly those traveling from low income country settings. The deadline for this application is 17:00 EST, Friday, February 10th. Click here to apply »
- Please visit our website for more information about lodging and transportation to the conference venue.
- As an Alliance member institution, please plan on joining us and other members for lunch on Saturday, April 29. We look forward to talking with you in person and discussing any of your membership needs. We value your contributions and want to do all that we can to strengthen the larger planetary health community of practice! More details to follow. As always, please contact us with any questions, and we look forward to sharing this stellar weekend of science/policy/education and community-building with you!
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A Joint Conference Sponsored by the Planetary Health Alliance, American Geophysical Union, Ecological Society of America, and The Lancet Supported by the Rockefeller Foundation
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Planetary Health is the health of human civilization and the state of the natural systems on which it depends (see Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health). Planetary Health and GeoHealth research focuses on quantifying the human health impacts of accelerating environmental change. In some instances these health impacts are direct (e.g., warming global temperatures causing more heat stress or biomass burning leading to cardiorespiratory disease from particulate air pollution); in other instances they are mediated through complex ecological pathways (e.g., multiple environmental drivers affecting fisheries structures with resulting nutritional impacts or sea level rise, loss of coastal barrier systems, and more extreme storms leading to environmental migration and attendant health consequences for coastal populations).
To catalyze this interdisciplinary field and raise awareness among funding agencies, publishers, and the broader research community, the Planetary Health Alliance along with the American Geophysical Union, the Ecological Society of America and The Lancet are organizing this Inaugural Annual Meeting on Planetary Health and GeoHealth on April 29-30, 2017 at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. The meeting is supported by the Rockefeller Foundation through a grant to the Planetary Health Alliance.
All researchers from any discipline relevant to Planetary Health and GeoHealth are invited to submit an abstract describing a study that has recently been conducted, or a project currently in process. We encourage submissions relating to the approaches, methods, tools, and indicators to assess how, where, and why environmental change leads to meaningful public health impacts. There are many research themes captured within Planetary Health and GeoHealth, including climate change impacts on human health; environmental change and food systems/human nutrition; land use change and vector-borne disease; urbanization and mental health; zoonotic disease emergence; freshwater scarcity and communicable diseases; natural disasters and human displacement; and air quality impacts of deforestation, etc. Please visit www.planetaryhealthalliance.org to peruse relevant themes.
Accepted abstracts may be chosen for an oral or poster presentation. A selected group of abstracts that have been accepted for oral or poster presentation will also be published by The Lancet in a booklet of “Top Abstracts in Planetary Health” released in conjunction with the Annual Meeting. Authors of those abstracts accepted for oral presentations or The Lancet publication will have their registration fees waived. Some priority will be given to showcasing the work of early career investigators in The Lancet publication and conference presentations.
Abstracts should be 300 words maximum in length and present detailed information on the design of the study and preliminary results. Attention should be given to describing the impact of a change in the structure or function of one or more natural systems on a dimension (or dimensions) of human health. Abstracts should be written in English, and contain no references, tables, or figures and include background (including context and aim), methods, findings, and interpretation. Please also include a non-declamatory title (including a study descriptor—e.g., randomized); names, titles, highest degrees, and affiliations of authors; postal and email addresses for the corresponding author; any funding received (if none, please state this); and a brief summary of the contributions of each author and any competing interests.
Notification of acceptance will be given by 10 February 2017.
Submitting an Abstract?
Please submit abstracts here or visit planetaryhealthalliance.org/annual-meeting.
Interested in attending the Planetary Health/GeoHealth Annual Meeting?
Sign up here to receive updates and registration information.