Introducing our 2023 Conference Keynote
Dr. Edward Maibach
Professor Edward Wile Maibach PhD, MPH, University Professor in the Department of Communication in George Mason University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) and director of Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication (4C), has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine (NAM).
Considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health, medicine, and behavioral sciences, election to the National Academy of Medicine recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
“I am humbled—and thrilled—to have been elected by the nation’s leading experts in medicine and public health to join their ranks at the National Academy of Medicine. The honor belongs as much to Mason as to me, because Mason supported me in focusing on the public health importance of climate change long before the looming crisis was recognized by most universities as having relevance to human health,” said Maibach.
The National Academy of Medicine recognized Maibach for his “groundbreaking research on public understanding of climate change,” his leadership engaging a diverse cross section of professionals and policymakers, and his work to educate the public about the health risks and need for immediate climate solutions.
“Professor Maibach’s work, and career, has been highly consequential in addressing some of the most critical grand challenges of our lifetime,” said Mason Provost and Executive Vice President Mark Ginsberg. “This is a well-deserved honor for a colleague who not only has made a direct impact with the students he teaches and mentors, but also who has made an impact for us all.”
During his 15 years at Mason, with his colleague Anthony Leiserowitz at Yale, Maibach created and co-directs the Climate Change in the American Mind polling project. With colleagues at Climate Central, Maibach also created and co-directs the Climate Matters program, which currently supports several thousand TV weathercasters and other local journalists in their efforts to report on the local relevance of global climate change in communities across the U.S. And with 4C Researcher Mona Sarfaty, he co-founded the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, which currently supports the public and professional education efforts of 42 U.S. medical societies.
“We are proud of the impact of Ed’s work on the medical community’s understanding of climate change as a public health issue,” said Anne Nicotera, Department of Communication chair. “His selection to NAM is a significant recognition of communication as a centrally important process in expanding that understanding among medical and clinical researchers and professionals.”
This year the Academy has elected 90 regular members and 10 international members. Maibach joins an elite cohort of six current members from Mason, and is the second CHSS faculty member to be inducted. Vernon Smith, Professor Emeritus of Economics and Law and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, was inducted in 1995.
Additional Mason members include: the late Thomas Lovejoy (2021), University Professor of Environmental Science and Policy within the College of Science and the scientific director of Mason’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth; Naomi “Lynn” Gerber, MD (2008), University Professor in the College of Health and Human Services; Harry Van Trees (2015), distinguished research professor at Mason’s C4I and Cyber Center in the College of Engineering and Computing; and late Andrew Sage (2004), the founding dean emeritus of the College of Engineering and Computing.
Current NAM membership totals more than 2,200 members including 190 international members.
BIO
Climate change communication, public health communication, social marketing
Dr. Edward Maibach is a distinguished University Professor and Director of Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication (Mason 4C). Ed co-directs the Climate Change in the American Mind polling project (with Yale’s Anthony Leiserowitz), is principal investigator of Climate Matters—a climate reporting resources program that supports TV weathercasters as local climate educators, and he helps direct the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health—an educational initiative that currently involves 37 national medical societies.
In 2018, Ed was appointed a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2020, Ed was awarded the Beck Family Presidential Medal of Excellence in Research and Scholarship—Mason’s top research honor—as well as the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication (with Anthony Leiserowitz). In 2021, Ed was identified by Thompson Reuters as one of the world’s 10 most influential scientists working on climate change.
Ed earned his PhD in communication science at Stanford University (1990), his MPH at San Diego State University (1983), and his BA at University of California, San Diego (1980).
Ed previously had the pleasure to serve as Associate Director of the National Cancer Institute, and Worldwide Director of Social Marketing at Porter Novelli. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Climate and Health Alliance.
What students may not know about Dr. Maibach is that in the late 1990s he helped plan a multi-billion-dollar communication campaign for the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy.
To see a list of publications click here: https://communication.gmu.edu/people/emaibach
To see more about the Center for Climate Change Communication(4c) click here: https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/
