Our Team
This initiative would not have been possible without the dedication of students, faculty, and mentors across the world. Here are the individuals who are spearheading this effort globally.
2024-2025 Co-Directors
James Lee
Co-Director operations
James is a first-year doctor with a passion for planetary health. He is currently participating in the specialised foundation program at East Kent Universities Hospitals Trust. With three years of experience as a member of the PHRC leadership team, James is eager to take on the challenging role of Director of Operations. As the PHRC enters an exciting new chapter as a non-profit organisation, he is excited to be a part of its continued success.
Arya Pontula
Co-director MedicinE
Arya is a final year medical student at the University of Manchester in the UK and looks forward to training in general surgery. She began working in climate activism in high school as a youth co-petitioner on CO2 emissions legislation in North Carolina alongside Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, and Action for the Climate Emergency (ACE). She also works with the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE, Columbia University) and Planetary Health Alliance (PHA, Johns Hopkins University).
At PHRC, Arya has served as Manchester school lead and Regional Lead for New Countries, working to include planetary health and sustainability in medical curricula. As Medicine Co-Director, she looks forward to growing the PHRC community to effect tangible change in health professional schools around the world. In her free time, Arya enjoys playing on the Manchester Women’s Medics football team, swimming, running, and spending time with her family and friends.
Emily Coady
co-director Interdisciplinary
Emily is a final year medical student at the University of Notre Dame Australia, set to begin her role as a junior doctor at Alfred Health in 2025. She has worked with multiple climate and health organisations, including Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA), the Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) Global Health and Code Green chapters, and the Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC), where she previously served as Australia & New Zealand Regional Lead. As the Interdisciplinary Co-Director, Emily is committed to expanding the PHRC to as many health disciplines as possible, aiming to enhance the integration of planetary health knowledge into health professional education and global health systems.
Operations Team
Aaron Avenido
Communications Co-Chair
Aaron is a first-year medical student at the University of Melbourne who has a long-held passion for environmental issues, especially as they relate to human and global health. He is currently conducting research on surgical sustainability. Outside of medicine, he loves to read widely and play tennis and is also an avid globetrotter and concertgoer.
Roma Kankaria
Communications Co-Chair
Roma Kankaria is a third-year medical student at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. For the last two years, she was on the contributing team for VUSM’s PHRC and is on the executive board of VUSM’s Medical Students for a Sustainable Future. She is passionate about how the environment affects health equity and social determinants of health.
Shivam Singhal
Finance & Grants Chair
Shivam Singhal is a third-year medical student at the University of Oxford. He has served as the Oxford lead for the Planetary Health Report Card, and is passionate about advocating for planetary health within medical education. In his spare time, he enjoys squash, music, and reading.
Emma Willcocks
Research Lead
Jessica Mo
Data and Analytics Lead
Jessica is a medical student at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. She is especially interested in the role of healthcare workers in addressing climate change. One of her goals is to take every major public transit system in the United States
Interdisciplinary Team
Maria Flash
Nursing Lead
Huzefa Malik
PHRC Pharmacy Lead
I’m Huzefa, a third-year Pharmacy student with a keen interest in research and planetary health. My goal is to bridge the gap between pharmaceuticals and environmental sustainability, ensuring that medical advancements support both human health and ecological balance. I’m dedicated to exploring innovative ways to reduce the environmental impact of medications and to promote sustainable practices within healthcare. Ultimately, I aim to contribute to a future where public health and planetary health are seamlessly integrated, working toward solutions that benefit both people and the planet.
Catherine Potter
PHRC occupational therapy Lead
Catherine Potter is a children’s occupational therapist (OT) working in East London. Having run the OT PHRC pilot last year alongside some fellow students she is eager to see how the PHRC can empower OT students to engage with planetary health.
Valeria Sanchez
PHRC Veterinary Lead
Monisha Chinthala
PHRC Dentistry Co-Lead
Monisha Chinthala is a graduate from V. S. Dental College & Hospital, practising as a general dentist in Bengaluru, India. She has been part of the Dental PHRC since its inception, contributing to the pilot and co-leading again this year. Monisha is passionate about the representation of the dental fraternity in the climate movement and was part of the founding team as the first Student-Lead for the Planetary Health Student Club at her alma mater.
Ramyashree Rao
PHRC Dentistry Co-Lead
Ramyashree Rao earned her dental degree from Vokkaligara Sangha Dental College and is a practicing dentist from Bengaluru, India. She is passionate about emphasizing the critical role of sustainable oral healthcare practices in climate change and biodiversity preservation. She headed the Planetary Health Student Club in its second year at her graduating institution. Apart from dentistry, her interests lie in art and fashion.
Tom Chapman
Regional Physiotherapy Lead UK
As a current MSc Physiotherapy student at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), I bring a different perspective to the Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC) team. With two decades of experience as a Physical Education teacher, I’ve long been passionate about health and wellbeing. However, it was during a research internship at ARU that I discovered the PHRC and its crucial mission.
Regional Leadership
Talia Raman
New Countries Lead
Talia Raman is a 4th year Pharmacy Student from Monash University Australia. Talia has always had a passion for sustainability, leadership, research and education. She has been involved in several Council led youth sustainability leader programs and was involved in writing the planetary health report card for Monash Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2023. Talia was also a select member of a unique co-design team at Monash University where she worked in a team to implement planetary health course material into the third year pharmacy curriculum. This team is currently producing a research publication which will be presented at conferences in the upcoming year. Outside of pharmacy, Talia loves traveling, music and volunteering.
Gunnar Mattson
Regional Co-Lead: Western U.S.
Gunnar Mattson is a second year medical student at the University of California, San Francisco. He joined the Planetary Health Report Card because he is passionate about the intersection of human health and climate change and he wants to spread awareness about this important issue. In his spare time he loves to hike, swim and scuba dive.
Laura Budvytyte
Regional Co-Lead: Western U.S.
Laura Budvytyte is a third year medical student at Mayo Clinic Arizona. This is her second year as part of the Planetary Health Report Card. She is also involved in sustainability through her institutional student interest group, Adopt-A-Road volunteering, and marine mammal conservation. She loves being a snob about coffee and beer preferences, and hiking her way through the world.
Chelsea Levi
Regional Lead: Southeastern U.S.
Chelsea is currently a second year medical student at Virginia Commonwealth University and the regional lead for the Southeast US. She is very passionate about studying the intersection of climate change and human health and encouraging healthcare sustainability on both an individual and a systemic level. In her free time, she loves to run and cook!
Adelaide Cooke
Regional Co-Lead: Southeastern U.S.
Adelaide is a Class of 2026 MD/MBA candidate at UNC Chapel Hill in North Carolina. She has been involved with the PHRC at UNC School of Medicine since her first year in the program. She is motivated to improve planetary health and is engaged in related research and advocacy efforts in North Carolina. In her spare time, she loves playing soccer and gardening.
Regional Lead: Midwestern U.S.
Position unfilled. If you are interested in the role, please get in touch via our contact page.
Divya Natesan
Regional Co-Lead: Northeastern U.S.
Divya Natesan is a student at the University of Pittsburgh currently on a research year between M2 and M3. She is passionate about sustainability and eliminating health disparities associated with the environment. She enjoys rock climbing, treasure hunting, and being outdoors!
Jessica Campanile
Regional Co-Lead: Northeastern U.S.
Ava Zardynezhad
Regional Lead: Canada
Ava Zardynezhad is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Alberta. She’s passionate about environmental sustainability and planetary health equity. She seeks better integration of planetary health into the Canadian medical curriculum and hopes to find inspirations and collaboration through the PHRC. In her spare time, she likes to read and spend time outdoors.
Rebecca McEwen
Regional Co-Lead: United Kingdom
Rebecca McEwen is an intercalating medical student at the University of Aberdeen. After establishing a sustainable medicine society at her University she realised the lack of teaching on the medical school curriculum about climate and environmental issues which inspired her to become a part of the team. Outside of medicine she enjoys playing the flute, saxophone and scuba diving.
Emmanuel Benyeogor
Regional Co-Lead: Nigeria
Emmanuel Benyeogor is a Nigerian epidemiologist and 2024 Global Outreach Fellow at the Planetary Health Alliance. He is a doctoral candidate at Nagasaki University, and brings a wealth of experience in public health, planetary health, and nature-based solutions. Emmanuel has led initiatives at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, established a network of Public Health Emergency Operations Centres, and supported global health organizations. With a focus on leveraging the LEAP approach in healthcare delivery and fostering inclusivity, he aims to drive sustainable development and address health disparities in Nigeria and beyond.
Dylan Dimond
Regional Lead: Ireland
Dylan Dimond is a final year medical student at Trinity College Dublin. This is his third year with the PHRC. He is interested in general practice and sustainable healthcare. In his spare time he enjoys hiking, rock climbing and playing music.
Eduardo Cachetas Mirra da Silva
Regional Lead: Small Countries in Europe
Eduardo is a third year Medical Student at the University of Minho, and he has been working with sustainability and other public health issues since his first year of Medical School. His interest for sustainable healthcare and the chronic lack of environmental awareness in the medical curriculum inspired him to be a part of the team. In his free time, he enjoys dancing, reading and playing the guitar.
*please note ‘small’ refers to expected PHRC participation and includes countries such as the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, Denmark and others.
Sıla Gürbüz
Regional Lead: Türkiye
Sıla Gürbüz is a fifth-year medical student at Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Medicine in Türkiye. This term marks her second year as the PHRC regional leader of Türkiye. She has been a climate change and environment activist for a decade and a health advocate since her first year of medical school. She is currently working with a professional national working group to officially incorporate Planetary Health into the core medical curriculum. She advocates for involving youth as partners in health policy implementation and design. In her spare time, she loves to travel, experiencing different cultures and cuisines in the best possible sustainable way! You can email her directly using planetaryhealthturkiye@gmail.com.
Oumnia Anfer
Regional Lead: Morocco
Oumnia ANFER is a fourth year medical student from the Faculty of medicine and pharmacy of Casablanca, Morocco. Her sense of advocacy for Planetary Health led her to be an engaged member as the Contact point of YOUNGO Health WG that she represents at the Health Steering Committee of COP28 Presidency. She is an ambassador of the African Youth Climate Hub, that she is proudly representing at the Steering Group of the Youth UNESCO Climate Action Network YoU-CAN as the Secretary.
Anja Jost
Regional Co-Lead: Switzerland
Anja Jost is a second year medical student at the University of Bern, Switzerland. As an active member of Health for Future Switzerland Anja advocates for Planetary Health inside and outside the University. Anja hopes to not only convince her grandparents of the link between health and climate change, but as many people as possible.
Samiha Arulshankar
Regional CO-Lead: australia & Aotearoa (New Zealand)
Samiha Arulshankar is currently studying medicine at Monash University, Australia. This year, she is new to the PHRC team and is excited to take on the role of a regional lead, focusing on enhancing its implementation and usage across Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa.
Mikaela Misso
Regional CO-Lead: australia & Aotearoa (New Zealand)
In terms of bio I’m a 4th year medical student at Monash University. I studied a bachelor of biomedical science degree with an honours year in the school of rural health prior to beginning my medical degree. My honours year was research around the preparedness of healthcare practitioners for the health impacts of climate change, and I have had various roles in medical student advocacy for climate change action over my degrees.
Aya Yokwe
Regional CO-Lead: South Africa
Lauren Pinder
Regional CO-Lead: South Africa
Lauren Pinder is a third-year medical student at the University of Cape Town. She is passionate about the intersection of planetary health and human health and how this disproportionately affects those who had little to do causing the climate crisis, thereby focusing on climate equity. Outside of medicine, she plays basketball, and violin and piano, and loves spending time outdoors, exploring nature.
Beatriz Morgado
Regional Lead: Portugal
Beatriz is a sixth year medical student at NOVA Medical School in Lisbon and she is the National Public Health Officer of ANEM Portugal. Her particular interests for health systems, planetary health and mental health inspired her to be a part of the team. In her free time, she enjoys surfing, hanging out with friends and dancing.
Prasoon Pattanaik
Regional Lead: India
Prasoon is a final-year med student at SCB Medical College who’s been juggling his love for healthcare and saving the planet with PHRC for over three years. He’s on track to becoming a doctor, but his real dream is to mix medicine with eco-friendly practices—kind of like prescribing houseplants with antibiotics. When he’s not in scrubs, you’ll find him behind a camera, tending to his ever-growing jungle of plants, or escaping to the mountains. With a passion for healing people and the planet, Prasoon’s out to make a difference, one patient and one plant at a time.
Regional Co-Lead: Sweden
Position unfilled. Please get in touch via our contact page if you’d like to apply.
Clara Kihlborg
Regional Co-Lead: Sweden
Clara is a 4th year medical student at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Stockholm. She has been inolved in med student driven planetary health projects for the past 1.5 years, and this is her first year participating in the PHCR. She is looking forward to working with these questions in various ways throughout her career and being part of greening the healthcare system.
Yuen Qi
Regional Co-Lead: Malaysia
Yuen Qi is a fourth-year Medical Student studying in Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia. She is fascinated about the intersection between planetary health and medicine and hopes to raise awareness on this matter locally in Malaysia. In her spare time, she loves reading and kickboxing.
Bertrand Dushimumuremyi
Regional Co-Lead: Rwanda
Bertrand is a third-year medical student who is an optimistic and idealistic visionary. He is a dedicated learner who seeks growth in every moment. He aspires to be a Physician, Research Scientist, Global Health, and One Health Revolutionary.
At PHRC, he aspires to use his One Health skillset to bring about positive change in individuals and communities, both locally and globally through fostering planetary health.
