Research and Engagement on Adaptation for Climate and Health (REACH) Center

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About REACH

The Research and Engagement on Adaptation in Climate and Health (REACH) Center is an interdisciplinary team at the University of Washington. Our mission is to develop, implement and evaluate interventions to support health in a changing climate. We work across Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.

Health Interventions

We evaluate the effectiveness of a program to reduce illness and death due to extreme heat.

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Fellows

We recruit and train interdisciplinary teams that will implement and evaluate climate and health interventions.

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Events and Resources

We educate scientists and practitioners to effectively engage communities in their work.
More soon!

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Get Involved

Our REACH goes farther with you. If you're a health practitioner, scientist or a community member, learn how you can get involved. 

Why REACH

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Climate change is happening now, in the Northwest and around the world. Climate change is already having negative impacts on our physical health and well-being. Yet, many of these impacts are preventable.

Climate change impacts health in the Northwest in many ways. Wildfires can kill and hurt people, and damage critical infrastructure and property. Wildfire smoke can be dangerous to breathe. Increasingly hot weather poses additional risks of heat stroke, dehydration and other heat-related illnesses. Floods can kill people and damage property.

Scientists have designed interventions that can reduce illness and death in the face of disasters. REACH brings together scientists with practitioners and community members to further develop, implement and evaluate these interventions. If implemented across communities, we believe these interventions have the potential to save lives and reduce suffering.

REACH at UW

The University of Washington is well postions to how the REACH Center

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  • We are well-established in the Pacific Northwest as a leader in climate research on the local and regional impacts of climate change.
  • We help educate health practitioners across the region.
  • We are experts and leaders in implementation science: the study of how to increase the use of evidence-based information by practitioners and policymakers.

Future REACH

Our vision for the future of REACH is to become a center of excellence focused on implementing and evaluating climate-health initiatives. Our aim is to:

  • Increase understanding of climate change health impacts across Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.
  • Increase commitment across the region to developing, implementing and evaluating interventions to reduce climate change-related health risks.
  • Advance understanding of how to train the next generation of climate and health researchers in implementation science.
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We believe REACH has great potential to advance the field of climate and health interventions, while potentially saving lives and reducing illness. With future funding, we would:

  • Expand the areas of climate science we work in. Our initial focus is on extreme heat, but additional funding would allow us to study other disasters such as wildfires, flooding and more.
  • Build on climate-health data tools, such as the Climate Health and Risk Tool (CHaRT).
  • Further our role regionally as a leader in building resilience to climate change.