How pollution and climate change impact health disparities

2025-04-16

Across the globe and in the U.S., environmental crises loom large and threaten our most vulnerable populations. “There's a lot of dying that's happening now, and it's primarily among poor, Black and Brown people,” says Dr. Cheryl Holder, who’s on a personal mission to inspire clinicians to act on climate change. Holder explains that a person’s health and well-being is directly impacted by the environment they’re surrounded by. “In celebrating and recognizing the environment, we recognize that this is how we define humanity, and how we create the environment for us to gro...

Across the globe and in the U.S., environmental crises loom large and threaten our most vulnerable populations.

“There's a lot of dying that's happening now, and it's primarily among poor, Black and Brown people,” says Dr. Cheryl Holder, who’s on a personal mission to inspire clinicians to act on climate change.

Holder explains that a person’s health and well-being is directly impacted by the environment they’re surrounded by.

“In celebrating and recognizing the environment, we recognize that this is how we define humanity, and how we create the environment for us to grow and thrive,” she says.

In honor of Earth Day, which is coming up this month, we’re dipping into our archives to bring you a conversation with Dr. Cheryl Holder. She’s now retired, but at the time this conversation was recorded and produced for the Health Disparities podcast in 2021, Dr. Holder was serving as the Interim Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity and Community Initiatives, and associate professor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University.

This episode was originally published in 2021 with host Elise Tolbert.

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