Dr. Aaron Bernstein is the Interim Director of The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE). He is also a Boston Children’s Hospital pediatrician and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. His work centers on the effects of the climate crisis on children’s health and advancing practical solutions to mitigate its causes and improve global child well-being.
In 2019, Dr. Bernstein testified before Congress about the health impacts of climate change on children, sharing insights from his work treating young patients with respiratory issues, diseases carried by insects, and trauma resulting from extreme weather events. He is widely recognized as a trusted expert, providing commentary and interviews to outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, CNN, and The Guardian. His written work has appeared in respected publications including the New England Journal of Medicine, British Medical Journal, and The Boston Globe.
He co-authored and co-edited the book Sustaining Life with Nobel Laureate Dr. Eric Chivian. Published by Oxford University Press, the book was named the best biology book of 2008 by Library Journal and has been translated into several languages.
Dr. Bernstein leads Climate MD, a Harvard Chan C-CHANGE initiative aimed at empowering physicians to frame climate change as an immediate and local health issue, not just a distant or political one. He also directed the Human Health and Global Environmental Change course and developed the HarvardX online course “The Health Effects of Climate Change.” This course examines how climate change affects air quality, nutrition, infectious diseases, and human migration, while offering solutions. It has reached thousands of learners in over 100 countries.
In 2015, Dr. Bernstein was named a Lokey-Businesswire Visiting Professor at Stanford University and held a visiting professorship at Columbia University. He has served on the Harvard President’s Climate Change Task Force and co-chairs the University Food Standards Committee.
Dr. Bernstein is active in several national organizations. He serves on the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Environmental Health, is Chair of the Board of Directors at the U.S. Green Building Council, and is an environmental health expert on the Board of Advisors for Parents Magazine. Previously, he served on the CDC’s Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Biology from Stanford University, an MD from the University of Chicago, and an MPH from Harvard University. He is a recipient of Stanford’s Firestone Medal for Research and a Zuckerman Fellowship at Harvard.
Outside of work, Dr. Bernstein is an avid cyclist and commutes by bike year-round.
Mary Watson
