Meet Our Team.

Montana Blum

Montana is an Internal Medicine Resident in Vancouver. She completed her MD at UBC. Montana completed her undergraduate studies at McGill in Cognitive Science and Social Studies of Medicine before moving home to the West Coast. Montana is interested in the intersection between climate change and population health and is passionate about climate advocacy in healthcare. Her research with the Global Health Initiative has been focused on understanding which populations and communities in British Columbia and Canada are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Sarah Poteryko

Sarah is a Family Medicine Resident in Vancouver. She completed her MD at UBC. Her love for the outdoors, and interest in the intersection of our health and the environment led her to being involved with this project. She received her Bachelor of Science from Simon Fraser University, with a major in Biomedical Physiology. Her research is centered around disease processes exacerbated by climate change, specifically within Canada. For this website, she focused on the impact our changing climate has on heat waves, vector borne disease, and air pollution.

Lise van Amerom

Lise is a Family Medicine Resident in St. John’s. She completed her MD at UBC. She has been inspired by the climate change movement for as long as she can remember. She received her Bachelor of Science from McGill University with a Major in Physiology. Lise’s research with the Global Health Initiative has focused on opportunities for sustainability practices in BC’s Healthcare system. More specifically, she is interested in the practical approaches that physicians, medical students, and other healthcare workers can take to advocate for better environmental and patient health. 

Keiko Patterson

Keiko is Obstetrics & Gynecology Resident in Calgary. She completed her MD at UBC. After growing up in North Vancouver, Keiko completed her undergraduate studies at Queen’s University in Life Sciences. Keiko is passionate about the evidence behind the benefits of connecting to nature. Within the Global Health Initiative project, her goal is to empower physicians and medical students through evidence based research on this topic along with practical strategies on how to find meaningful way to connect with nature for yourself, your patients and your community.

Preet Gandhi

Preet is a third-year medical student at UBC. Prior to medical school, he completed his Master’s of Global Health at McMaster and worked in several areas of global health including innovation, bioethics and advocacy. He has been most interested in climate and environmental health as it relates to reproductive, maternal and child health (RMNCH). Most recently, he was UBC’s OneHealth Scholar through collaboration with the University of Arizona, working on research examining the relationship between contaminated drinking water and breastmilk consumption in Guatemala.

MAYA venkataraman

Maya is a fourth-year medical student at UBC. She grew up in Summerland, B.C. and completed her undergraduate studies at Dalhousie University in Medical Sciences. Maya is passionate about getting outside and connecting with nature through running, cross-country skiing and camping. Her interests are around the effects of climate change on rural communities. She has done research with the Rural Health Services Research Network of B.C. throughout her time in medical school. 

Crystal gong

Crystal is a fourth-year medical student at UBC. She grew up in Ontario where she developed an appreciation for the outdoors, spending her summers camping in the Muskoka woods. She received her BSc with a major in Biomedical Science from the University of Guelph. She completed her MSc in Epidemiology from UAlberta examining the relationships between gender, health and climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Crystal has a special interest in the intersection of medical education and planetary health. Specifically, she’s interested in exploring how medical students can advocate for a more sustainable future through curriculum integration. 

Sandra Smiley

Sandra is a third-year medical student at UBC. Before entering medical school, she worked for more than a decade in global public health and humanitarian assistance. Sandra holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environment from McGill University and a Master of Science in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 2021, she received a Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, attending as a Sommer Scholar. Sandra is interested in and passionate about social medicine and addressing the structural determinants of health. In her research and advocacy, she aims to approach climate change through a health equity and social justice lens.