The effects of climate change, including warmer temperatures, rising sea levels, rainfall changes, and more severe extreme weather events such as hurricanes and tropical storms, create a significant risk to public health, food security, natural resources, and the general economies, as well as an increased risk from heat stress, asthma, vector, food, and water-borne diseases. There should be an emphasis on early warning response to severe climate-related events with the awareness that these effects are likley to have the most impact on suspectible populations, such as the elderly, infants and children, those with existing chronic diseases, and those living in low and middle income countries. Adaptation interventions and primary mitigation are both crucial strategies in public health to meet the challenges of a changing climate.

Dr. Muge Akpinar-Elci is the director of the Center for Global Health at Old Dominion University. She has more than 15 years of experience in clinical and field research working in public health and global health. She completed her residency training in Pulmonology and fellowship in Occupational Medicine in Turkey. Dr. Akpinar-Elci also received a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Akpinar-Elci has worked as a staff physician, at NIH, and at St. George's University School of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Grenada. She was also a director of World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Environmental and Occupational Health.

Dr. Akpinar-Elci has clinical and field research experience in public health and pulmonary medicine. She has been the recipient of several prestigious awards and has published scientific articles and book chapters on Occupational and Environmental Health and pulmonary medicine.

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