NH HWCA Past Events

Elizabeth Bechard is Senior Policy Analyst for Moms Clean Air Force and leads the organization’s work on climate change and mental health. She is author of Parenting in a Changing Climate: Tools for Cultivating Resilience, Taking Action, and Practicing Hope in the Face of Climate Change. Elizabeth holds a Master’s of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where her thesis research focused on climate change and parents’ mental health. She is a member of the NH HWCA CHICKS Advisory Board and the Early Years Climate Action Task Force, and lives in Vermont with her husband and twins.

Jennifer Alford-Teaster, MA, MPH, Program Manager, Community Health, New London Hospital, introduced Elizabeth Bechard and moderated the Q & A. Co-sponsors of this webinar, as for the parent climate cafes two days before, are the Climate and Health Initiative for Caregivers and Kids (CHICKs), the Montshire Museum of Science, the Center for Advancing Rural Health Equity at Dartmouth Health, the Boys & Girls Club of Central NH, and Mom’s Clean Air Force.

Elizabeth Bechard, MScPH, is a Senior Policy Analyst for Moms Clean Air Force, where she leads Moms’ work at the intersection of climate change and mental health. Before working full-time on climate change, Elizabeth spent a decade working as a health coach and clinical research coordinator at Duke Integrative Medicine, where her areas of focus included studies on coaching for behavior change; expressive writing for trauma resilience; and mindfulness-based stress reduction. After becoming a mother, Elizabeth became passionate about the intersection between climate change and family resilience. She is the author of Parenting in a Changing Climate: Tools for Cultivating Resilience, Taking Action, and Practicing Hope in the Face of Climate Change. She lives in Vermont with her husband and young twins. She is also a member of NH HWCA’s CHICKS Advisory Board.

Jennifer Alford-Teaster, MA, MPH, Director of the Data Analytic Core (DAC), Senior Research Science and lecturer in The Dartmouth Institute of Health Policy and Clinical Practice, introduced the speaker and moderated the Q&A.

This webinar is co-sponsored by the NH Public Health Association.

Elizabeth Pinsky is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is the Associate Director of the Pediatric Psychiatry Consultation Service, and at Shriner’s Hospital for Children Boston. Her clinical interests focus on the intersection of child mental and physical health, including trauma and fostering resilience in medically ill children. She believes that climate change poses the most urgent threat to children at that intersection of physical and mental health, and that clinicians caring for children must advocate for a rapid and just transition off fossil fuels. She serves as the Associate Director for Advocacy at the MGH Center for Environment and Health and is also a founding member of Climate Code Blue, a Boston-area climate action group for physicians and other health professionals.

Dr Robert Feder, Chair, Behavioral Health Working Group, NH HWCA, and Member, Board of Directors, NH HWCA, will introduce Dr Pinsky and moderate the Q & A.

This event is co-sponsored by Climate Psychiatry Alliance, NAMI New Hampshire, NH Psychological Association, NH Psychiatric Society, NH Public Health Association and NH Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Jennifer L. Barkin, M.S., PhD, Vice Chair & Associate Professor, Community Medicine, Associate Professor, OB/GYN, Director, Academic Health Department, Mercer University School of Medicine

Presented in collaboration with the NH Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, New Hampshire Psychiatric Society, New Hampshire Psychological Association, New Hampshire Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Bruce Bekkar, MD is an OB/GYN physician and full-time climate advocate.

Affiliations: Chair, Public Health Advisory Council of the Climate Action Campaign; Executive Committee of ecoAmerica’s Climate for Health Leadership Circle

Lead author, Association of Air Pollution and Heat Exposure and Preterm Birth, Low Birth Weight and Stillbirth in the US, A Systematic Review, in JAMA Open June 2020

Dr. Bekkar will be introduced by Derek T. Jurus, DO, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth, and Associate Director Residency Program, Obstetrics and Gynecology

This event is co-sponsored by NH ACOG, NH Public Health Association, NH Nurse Practitioner Association, NH Nurses Association, NH Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, and the NH Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Rebecca Pass Philipsborn, MD, MPA, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Director of Climate, Health Education and Clinical Partnerships, Emory Resilience and Sustainability Collaboratory

Presented in collaboration with the NH Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics