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The report was led by students at BSMS

Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) has been ranked first for research in the 2022 Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC) and third in the UK overall. Originally founded in 2019, the PHRC is a student-led, metric-based tool for evaluating and improving planetary health content in health professional schools. 

More than 450 medicine students from 74 medical schools around the world took part in the PHRC this year, which aims to compare medical schools based on five metrics: Curriculum content on planetary health; Research in health and environment; university support for student planetary health initiatives; community outreach and advocacy; and Campus sustainability. 

BSMS’ report card was led by students Stef Tsatsari, Yasmin Tyson and was supported by Dr Anna Jones. BSMS student Jim Lee who led the team last year is currently the regional lead for the UK for the initiative. Find out more here.

Year 4 student Stef Tsatsari, who led the report card for the medical school, said: “As future doctors, we must be prepared to address the health impacts of climate change on our patients’ health, and so as current medical students, we need to hold out schools accountable for training us appropriately – the Planetary Health Report Card can help us make this change.

“There are still areas to work on for the future, such as the BSMS’ Community Outreach and Advocacy activities around climate change, the available support for student-led planetary health activities, and some sustainability aspects on our partner university campuses. But the great thing about this project is that it has sparked conversations within the different teams and departments that can help us make those improvements and it has also created a space for like-minded students to come together.”

Dr Anna Jones, Clinical Teaching Fellow and Project Lead for Sustainable Healthcare in Undergraduate Medical Education at BSMS, said: “Taking part in the PHRC provides us at BSMS with a fantastic opportunity to reflect on our progress in incorporating sustainability across the school and I’d like to congratulate Stef and her team on all their efforts.

“Our aim is that our students will graduate with a clear understanding of the relationships between the environment and health, the environmental impacts of healthcare and are able to identify ways to make healthcare more sustainable – and the PHRC is an important part of these efforts.”

Professor Mood Bhutta, Chair in Otology & Professor of Sustainable Healthcare at BSMS, added: “We know the NHS contributes 4-5% to total carbon emissions of the UK. Our research over the last few years has focused on where and how healthcare can reduce its own carbon footprint. It is heartening to see the work of our team recognised, and we hope our work also leads to real world change to help save our planet.”

Since the PHRC results were published in March 2022, Stef has attended a number of conferences to present the findings, including a presentation at SHARE 2022 and poster presentations at Eco Medics Conference 2022 and TASME Spring Conference 2022, where she won Best Poster Prize jointly with Jim Lee.

Watch our video with BSMS students Stef Tsatsari and Yasmin Tyson below to find out more about the PHRC at BSMS. Watch here >

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