Written up by your Student Sustainability Ambassadors - to celebrate and identify staff that are working to make a difference in sustainability at UCL..
Who are you?
I am Giulia Pellizzari, a Lecturer in Cancer Clinical Trials and the Education Lead of the CRUK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre (CTC). I am part of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, teaching UG and PG Cancer study students at UCL, as well as leading professional development and educational advancement of clinical trials staff.
I am an immunology scientist and in my educational role I combine my scientific research background with trials management skills, to deliver an integral learning experience: students learn the molecular biology pathways driving the mechanisms of action of a cancer therapy, as well as becoming familiar with the regulatory, ethical, financial and management frameworks required to deliver such therapy.
What are you working on within sustainability?
Beyond the conventional scope of teaching and supervising student research projects, I'm energized by the prospect of infusing climate change and sustainability principles into Higher Education curricula. By bridging healthcare and environmental awareness, I want to equip the future generations of researchers to address complex challenges with a holistic approach.
Since becoming part of the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) network, I have contributed to the development of the ESD Toolkit, which aims to support staff from all faculties and disciplines to develop educational experiences that empower and enable UCL students to become leaders and activators in the global transition. Inspired by the many and great actions ESD members are taking withing their own field of work, I have designed and included new lectures and student-led workshops in my taught modules, focussing on the interconnections between climate change and cancer epidemiology. I am also the UK ambassador for the Climate Change Taskforce of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) which is working to promote practices and develop policies to deliver more sustainable healthcare in oncology on an international scale. I am currently setting up a research collaboration with the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition to work together on the development of a new carbon footprint calculator for clinical trials.
How can interested students get involved?
We should all aim at seeing healthier patients in a healthier planet, as there isn’t one without the other.
If students are interested in this topic, I suggest they get in touch with myself or with the ESD network. Students are incredibly eager to learn more about the interconnections between clinical research and climate change and highly interested in developing practices and policies that aim at delivering more sustainable trials, and it is our job as educators to ensure they get the chance to do it.
The climate crisis is a health crisis, and we should all, scientists, educators, clinicians and researchers, join forces to educate the new generation of medical professionals in tackling cancer and other diseases within a world that is already impacted by the effects of climate change (extreme weather events disrupting patient care, air pollution increasing cancer incidence, increased extreme heat decreasing the quality of life of cancer patients, etc.). If we do not equip the current and future generations to tackle such complex challenges, ensuring access to healthcare and clinical research will become more and more challenging.
Contact details and useful links
Email: [email protected]