EnviroMed is an initiative led by UBC medical students sharing the same key vision: to foster education and advocacy around the links between health, medicine, and the environment.
This group was founded in 2018 on the basis of planetary health—the concept that environmental health and human health are deeply intertwined.
Similarly, UBC Medical Students for Climate Action was launched in 2023 as a planetary health curriculum project. Students worked on integrating planetary health into course material through Years 1 to 4 through modifying weekly case-based-learning sessions, updating the Transition into Clinical Education lecture on healthcare sustainability, co-creating a new planetary health lecture in Transition Into Practice Program, and developing educational modules, which can be found on our website.
In 2025, in recognition that environmental education and advocacy thrive on collaboration, UBC Medical Students for Climate Action and UBC EnviroMed merged to form a unified team.
“A ruined planet cannot sustain human lives in good health. A healthy planet and healthy people are two sides of the same coin.”
— Dr. Margaret Chan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization
Our Goals:
- Advance climate advocacy through education and community engagement,
- Empower learners to integrate evolving evidence on sustainability, climate change and health into their practice and education
- Facilitate connections between learners and experts in planetary health
Our Values:
- Sustainability: committing to environmentally responsible practices on micro and macro-levels
- Equity: recognizing that climate change disproportionately impacts vulnerable populations, and striving for health justice
- Collaboration: fostering interdisciplinary partnerships between learners, experts, and communities to strengthen planetary health.
- Advocacy: taking action to support a climate solutions
UBC EnviroMed 