The Cooperative convenes leaders at Climate Week NYC to advance patient-centered solutions for heat and poor air quality

The Cooperative convenes leaders at Climate Week NYC to advance patient-centered solutions for heat and poor air quality

By Serena Bronda

The inaugural Innovation Forum featured a panel discussion moderated by The Cooperative's founding director, Renee Salas (left), with members of The Cooperative's National Strategic Advisory Board, including (from left) Gina McCarthy, Jacqueline Patterson and Marina Romanello, as well as Georges Benjamin (not pictured).

Protecting patients from growing environmental threats will require healthcare systems to collaborate beyond the walls of hospitals and clinics, co-creating solutions with other stakeholders. That was a central theme of The Cooperative's inaugural Innovation Forum, held during Climate Week NYC at the National Academy of Medicine and New York Academy of Medicine's Climate and Health Commons, which included both public and closed-door sessions.

The forum brought together national and global leaders with expertise across healthcare, public health, government, community-based organizations, and international research. Their discussions focused on how healthcare can work with public health and community partners to develop coordinated, patient-centered approaches that protect those at greatest risk from environmental health harms.

The event marked Mass General Brigham's public launch of The Cooperative, an initiative developing practical, evidence-informed healthcare models to safeguard health and help patients prepare for and respond to environmental health threats. Its initial work focuses on extreme heat and poor air quality with plans to expand to other climate-related health harms, including extreme weather and water- and vector-borne diseases.

Three themes framed the forum's approach. First, no single organization or sector can address these challenges alone. Healthcare systems, public health agencies, governments, and community-based organizations each bring unique capabilities and resources. Cross-sector coordination on these efforts can help create a more holistic response for patients, particularly those most at risk.

Second, solutions should connect personalized clinical care with existing public health and community resources. Linking programs across the health system can help shift healthcare delivery from reactive treatment to proactive care, improving outcomes for patients affected by extreme heat and poor air quality. For example, at Mass General Brigham, The Cooperative has already collaborated with the Community Health team to add heat- and air quality-related questions to the 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment. The Cooperative also partnered with the Health Equity team to add a heat vulnerability question to the systemwide Social Risk Factor screening questionnaire to help identify patients at greater risk. In addition, it is harnessing technical innovation led by the Department of Emergency Preparedness and Continuity, including an AI tool developed with IBM technology that delivers heat alerts to high-risk patients.

Third, healthcare systems need practical guidance that can be adapted and scaled. The Cooperative plans to share operational guidance, lessons learned, and emerging best practices through a public roadmap and future Innovation Forums, helping healthcare organizations learn from one another as new approaches are developed and evaluated.

"No single organization can address these challenges alone," said Renee Salas, MD, MPH, MS, The Cooperative's founding director and an emergency medicine physician at Mass General Brigham. "By taking an all-of-healthcare approach, The Cooperative is working to accelerate the adoption of solutions to scale health resilience in a changing environment-especially for those most at risk."

During Climate Week NYC, Salas also participated in an America Is All In convening, extending the conversation about cross-sector collaboration and health resilience beyond The Cooperative's forum. This event included high-level leaders from across the country, showcasing the strengthen of state and local climate leadership. Lauren Jensen, The Cooperative's assistant director, spoke at a session at the Climate and Health Commons hosted by Johnson & Johnson on integrating mitigation and adaptation into clinical care pathways.

The Cooperative's work will continue at the institutional, local, and national levels, with the goal of co-developing practical, equitable healthcare solutions that protect patients and improve health outcomes as environmental threats grow.