March 9, 2026
Three NCSP research teams receive inaugural IHPI Sandy-Hassmiller Climate & Health Awards
Selected projects examine climate stress among caregivers, disaster recovery supports, and data center impacts.
Three interdisciplinary teams of scholars from the National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) have received the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI)’s inaugural Sandy-Hassmiller Climate & Health Research Awards, which support new research collaborations focused on the health impacts of climate change.
Established in 2025 through a philanthropic gift from Lewis G. Sandy, M.D., and Susan Hassmiller, R.N., Ph.D., FAAN, the IHPI Sandy-Hassmiller Climate & Health Initiative includes this grant program as a key component to support interdisciplinary research that informs health practice and policy while helping prepare the next generation of clinician-scientists to address climate-related health challenges.
The grant is open to scholars across all NCSP program sites—U-M, Yale University, Duke University, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of California San Francisco, and the University of Pennsylvania—to develop new collaborations and explore the intersection of climate and health in their research.
Three teams were selected for the inaugural awards:
- Andrew Wong and Asmaa Rimawi (University of Michigan), and Kaustav Shah (University of Pennsylvania) will conduct a national pilot study examining how U.S. data centers may affect the health of nearby communities.
- Elizabeth Choa (University of California, Los Angeles), Lisa-Qiao MacDonald (Yale University), and Karthik Rohatgi (University of California, San Francisco) will design and implement a population-based study examining climate-related stress among caregivers.
- Kristen Obiakor (University of California, Los Angeles) and Lisa-Qiao MacDonald (Yale University) will evaluate Care Camp, a climate adaptation strategy that leverages public spaces, cross-sector partnerships and community resources to support children and families recovering from disasters.
The next call for award applications will be announced to NCSP scholars in fall 2026. Check for updates on the U-M IHPI NCSP website.