Bonus Conference Episode: Rising Voices, Lasting Change: Intergenerational Leadership in Planetary Health Education

Presented by Karly Hampshire, MD; Natasha Sood, MD, MPH; and Bhargavi Chekuri, MD (Moderator)

STFM Conference on Medical Student Education Closing Session | Sunday, February 1, 2026

Climate change is the greatest health threat of the 21st century, yet medical education has been slow to prepare future physicians for its wide-ranging impacts on health systems and patient care. In this session, we spotlight the power of student-led innovation in advancing climate and health education through two globally recognized initiatives: the Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC) and Climate Resources for Health Education (CRHE). Both began as grassroots projects by medical students who identified gaps in their training and took action to fill them. PHRC now benchmarks health professional schools internationally on planetary health curriculum, research, and operations, while CRHE has developed a growing library of open-access teaching materials to equip faculty with ready-to-use climate and health resources.

Through a panel discussion with the co-founders of PHRC and CRHE, participants will hear first-hand stories of how these initiatives were built, scaled, and sustained as international collaborations. Panelists will reflect on their “aha” moments, early challenges, and lessons learned in fostering inter-institutional collaboration, leveraging mentorship, and bridging the gap between education and clinical practice. As both panelists now train as residents, they will also share how their perspectives on climate and health education have evolved with greater exposure to patient care and health systems.

This session will equip educators, learners, and leaders with practical insights on cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset, leveraging collaboration, and supporting the next generation of change agents in climate and health education.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

Describe how trainee-led initiatives have advanced climate and health integration in medical education worldwide.Identify strategies for fostering collaboration, mentorship, and sustainability in grassroots educational innovations.Apply lessons from student innovators to support the development of new climate and health education efforts at their own institutions.

Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026

Karly Hampshire, MD

Karly Hampshire is an internal medicine resident at Columbia University pursuing a career at the intersection of medical education, climate change, and health. As a medical student at University of California San Francisco, Karly founded the Planetary Health Report Card Initiative, a student-led, metric-based initiative to evaluate and inspire planetary health engagement at health professional schools worldwide, now active in over 180 health professional schools in 10 disciplines in 21 countries. She was also awarded the Emerging Physician Leader Award from Health Care without Harm for her Interview without Harm Initiative, an advocacy, research, and educational campaign urging decisionmakers to prioritize sustainability and equity in evolving decisions about the future of medical training interviews post-COVID. She currently is in the inaugural cohort of the GME Certificate of Distinction in Climate Change, Sustainability and Health at Columbia University.

Natasha Sood, MD, MPH

Natasha Sood is a resident at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Anesthesiology. She received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan and her Master of Public Health from Columbia University in Environmental Health Science with a specialization in Climate Change and Health. While in medical school at Penn State College of Medicine, Natasha co-founded the national organization, Medical Students for a Sustainable Future (MS4SF), and w