On April 28, the Brown University School of Public Health held the 26th annual Barnes Lecture—a conversation between Dean Ashish K. Jha and Monica Medina, J.D., Arnhold Senior Distinguished Fellow at Conservation International.
The event also marked the launch of the school's newest research unit, the Center for Climate, Environment & Health, which measures and analyzes health risks in our environment, working to understand and reduce the negative health outcomes they cause.
Before assuming her role at Conservation International, Medina served as the first woman president and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society. From 2021 to 2023, she was the assistant secretary of state for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, as well as the first U.S. Special Envoy for Biodiversity and Water Resources at the State Department. From 2011 to 2013, she served as special assistant to the secretary of defense, and from 2009 to 2012, as principal deputy under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
A lawyer by training, Medina began her career working for the U.S. Army’s Office of the General Counsel, where her client was the Army Corps of Engineers. This role marked the beginning of her path in environmental law. But her real passion for environmental issues began with the birth of her daughter. “She was diagnosed with asthma and as a mother watching her struggle to breathe, I felt a deep urgency,” she said. “I knew then that I needed to be part of efforts that help kids like her—addressing the health threats posed by pollution.”
After working on rivers and floods with the Army Corps of Engineers, Medina became a Clean Air Act lawyer in Congress. That role evolved into a career focused on environmental health—working on endangered species and genomic spillover. Throughout these years, the link between health and the environment kept reappearing as a central theme, with climate change as an increasing focus.
Medina cautioned that we can’t afford to stop talking about climate change just because it’s politically inconvenient. “Climate change is real,” she said. “It’s a fact, and we need to talk about it in ways that help people see how it affects their health, the price of groceries, and the natural world. For instance, we’re seeing coral reefs die off and species like elephants and tigers lose their habitats. These aren’t far-off possibilities—they’re happening now.”