Opportunities

Call for Applications:

University of California Faculty Clinical Decarbonization Fellowship

(up to $25K for calendar year 2026)

Deadline: October 24, 2025

 

Globally, a growing number of mortalities, increased infectious disease transmission, increased emergency room admittances, worsened mental health outcomes, and hunger can be attributed to rising temperatures, wildfires, extreme and sudden weather events, droughts, and crop failures, all resulting from the changing climate. Communities in California already suffer many climate-health effects, from heat strokes during unprecedented heatwaves to psychological trauma after wildfires. Ironically, as climate change poses a potential strain on hospitals and clinics, the U.S. healthcare sector is also a significant contributor to climate change, accounting for approximately 8.5% of all domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to one estimate.  

 

The University of California (UC) is aiming to reduce its climate footprint. However, implementing climate action through decarbonization and emissions mitigation efforts in healthcare requires healthcare specific solutions, as well as engagement and leadership from clinicians who are at the forefront of healthcare delivery. 

 

With support from the UC Office of the President, UC’s Center for Climate, Health and Equity (CCHE) is working to generate and promote climate solutions that foster healthy and equitable communities and a healthier planet for future generations. Taking action on climate change is one of the most powerful health interventions of our time, and CCHE seeks to harness the expertise and leadership of UC to advance healthy and equitable climate solutions in the healthcare sector, health education and research, alongside communities and with policymakers.  

 

To support climate action in health systems, CCHE is recruiting faculty from all UC Health campuses to apply for the Faculty Clinical Decarbonization Fellowship, focused on decarbonization and building resilience plans at UC hospitals. 

 

About the Faculty Clinical Decarbonization Fellowship: 

This Fellowship seeks to train a cadre of UC faculty members to become leaders in healthcare sustainability through mentorship and project implementation. Selected faculty fellows will receive up to $25,000 and work closely with Dr. Seema Gandhi, the Medical Director of Sustainability at UCSF Health, Dr. Sheri Weiser, the Co-Founder of CCHE, Dr. Arianne Teherani, the Co-Founder of CCHE, Dr. Shira Abeles infectious disease specialist and Medical Director of Sustainability at UCSD Health, and Dr. William Pevec, Professor Emeritus and former Chief of Vascular Surgery at UC Davis Health. Fellows will develop and implement a 1-year decarbonization-based project at their UC Health campus starting in January 2026 with the goal of presenting and disseminating their decarbonization work after the conclusion of the Fellowship year. Projects may be focused on any area of patient care and must target healthcare decarbonization through approaches such as changing clinical ordering practices to be more energy efficient, promoting telehealth, reducing waste, or other scopes 1, 2, or 3 emissions mitigation solutions. Ideally, the project scope will be feasible to complete within the 1-year timeframe of the Fellowship.  

 

Fellowship Expectations 

 

  • Fellows are expected to formulate and execute a 1-year clinical decarbonization project. Fellows may leverage new and existing collaborations between the UC Health system and community hospitals to engage the wider public and disseminate decarbonization strategies across UC Health campuses and beyond. The project should aim to generate meaningful reductions in carbon emissions within the Fellowship timeframe, and further serve as a model that can be scaled up and/or implemented at other UC health campuses.  
  • Fellows must be able to attend and participate in all monthly sessions (virtual, 2-hours each). These sessions will provide an opportunity to discuss project progress, exchange ideas, and receive mentorship and support from CCHE faculty and staff, and other fellows in the cohort. Each session will also include a lecture on decarbonization strategies and climate and health challenges in healthcare. During some sessions, Fellows will be asked to provide updates on the status of their projects.  
  • Completion of a final report that contains recommendations, models, or frameworks that can be adopted and implemented by the health system. 
  • A final presentation to a larger group of decarbonization stakeholders within UC.  

 

Sample Fellowship timeline: 

  • Months 1-2: Refine and further develop proposed project 
  • Months 3-9: Implementation, optimization, and data collection at a UC Health campus 
  • Months 10-12: Data analysis, outcomes assessment, dissemination of project results though presentations and writings 

 

Sample Fellowship projects: 

Potential Fellowship projects should consider novel ways to reduce the carbon footprint of clinical practice, and may include, but are not limited to, the following areas of decarbonization: 

  • Changing clinical guidelines to reduce ordering of unnecessary labs, imaging and expensive procedures  
  • Improving energy efficiency in medical equipment and settings  
  • Reducing waste in clinical practice and promoting reprocessing, reuse, and recycling (as appropriate) to tackle scope 3 emissions  
  • Improving supply chain resilience  
  • Sustainable transportation for staff and patients  
  • Supporting best practices in telehealth 
  • Sustainability education that leads to measurable behavior change 

 

After completion of the Fellowship, fellows are expected to have gained knowledge and experience in the following areas:  

  1. The health impacts of climate change: Climate change and climate-related disasters are expected to increase healthcare costs and impact communities disproportionally. Fellows will learn about the health impacts of climate change and why decarbonization efforts are necessary in healthcare.  
  2. Decarbonization strategies in healthcare settings: The fellows will gain an understanding of Scope 1, 2 & 3 carbon emissions accounting in healthcare settings, the sources of the emissions, and various strategies to reduce emissions through clinical mitigation. 
  3. Climate policy and regulations: The fellows will gain an understanding of how some current institutional, regional, and national policies and regulations can create roadblocks for clinical mitigation efforts. Fellows will also learn to advocate for evidence-based clinical policies that minimize waste without compromising patient care.  
  4. Stakeholder engagement and communication: Decarbonization efforts in healthcare require collaboration with both clinical and non-clinical stakeholders. Fellows will learn how to engage with them effectively, build relationships, communicate complex concepts clearly, and present a compelling case for sustainability changes to hospital leadership and staff, other healthcare professionals, and community members.  
  5. Project implementation, monitoring, and evaluation: Fellows will develop project management skills, including planning, organizing, and executing sustainability initiatives, and tools for monitoring and evaluating impacts. This competency will involve coordinating multiple stakeholders, setting goals and timelines, allocating resources, tracking project progress, data collection, analysis, and dissemination of results.  

 

Required qualifications for applying include: 

  • Faculty designation at any UC Health campus in any series (Ladder Rank, In Residence, Clinical X, Health Science Clinical, Adjunct) in all ranks (Instructor, Assistant, Associate, Full Professor) or appointees to the Professional Research Series may apply  
  • Ability to dedicate a set amount of time to this project for 1 year, including attending each monthly Fellowship session 

 

Preferred qualifications include: 

  • Background and interest in sustainability 
  • Ability to communicate with a diverse set of stakeholders 
  • Experience working on teams and collaborating on projects 
  • Comfort in writing peer-reviewed manuscripts 

 

How to apply: 

Applicants should email the following in a single pdf with the subject line “Faculty Clinical Decarbonization Fellowship” to [email protected] no later than Friday, October 24, 2025 (5:00PM PST):  

 

  1. 1-page cover letter that answers: 
  • What interests you about this Fellowship and why are you applying? 
  • What do you hope to get out of this experience and how might it contribute to your professional development? 
  1. 2-page proposal that includes a brief description of the proposed project, including targeted area of mitigation, contribution to decarbonization efforts, potential impacts, and feasibility. We recommend addressing the following questions in your proposal: 
  • How will the proposed project impact climate change efforts?  
  • How will the proposed project impact clinical care?  
  • What are the measurable outcomes? In particular, how do you plan to measure emissions reduction in addition to other outcomes? 
  • What is the timeline for the project? 
  1. Biosketch or CV  
  2. Detailed budget and budget justification. Note that funds can be used for release time. 
  3. Letter of support from your department chair  
     

The application will be reviewed by a committee of faculty and staff from throughout the UC system that are involved in climate and health and sustainability mitigation and are affiliated with CCHE. Please direct any questions to [email protected].