Robbie M. Parks

Two maps show storm exposure in the southeastern U.S. Map A shows "Gale to violent storm exposure" in shades of purple, from 0 to 25 days. Map B shows "Hurricane exposure" in shades of red, from 0 to 5 days. "text@0" "text@1" "text@2" "text@3"

Each additional tropical cyclone-exposed day was associated with increased psychoactive drug-related death rates in exposed US counties, highlighting the need to integrate substance use and mental health services in disaster preparedness.

ja.ma/4c11aaf

Characterizing global tropical cyclone events of 2024 Characterizing global tropical cyclone events of 2024, Jiang, Lingke, Anderson, G. Brooke, Li, Yanran, Wu, Xiao, Lynch, Victoria D., Parks, Robbie

🌪️🌍 Who actually bears the burden of tropical cyclones?
A global look at exposure, storms, and inequality. @robbieparks.bsky.social
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

Annual Medicaid interpersonal (n = 327,577) and self-inflicted (n = 17,271) violence-related hospital visits, by sex and age for 1999–2012

🤒Higher temperatures are associated with more violence-related visits, particularly for younger individuals and those with lower income or educational attainment.
👉Read the study by @robbieparks.bsky.social and co-authors at www.nature.com/articles/s44...
#sustainability #climatechange 🧪

A great pleasure to give a guest lecture on Weather and Climate Extremes at @columbiauniversity.bsky.social’s Mailman School of Public Health today.

Thanks for the invite @robbieparks.bsky.social!

@lamont.columbia.edu @iiasa.ac.at

The Hidden Devastation of Hurricanes Their health effects extend far beyond official death tolls.

🌪️ @newyorker.com just spotlighted former Agents Of Change fellow @robbieparks.bsky.social!

His research reveals the invisible health toll of hurricanes — from chronic illness to mental health impacts long after storms end.
Read more 👇
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

Hurricane Evacuation Patterns Differ Based on Where the Storm Hits People in coastal areas with frequent hurricane exposure are more likely to travel out of harm’s way compared to people in inland areas who are more likely to stay put.

This study was led by Dr. Qing Yao, with great collaboration with Victoria Lynch, Molei Liu, @wuxiao1993.bsky.social and @robbieparks.bsky.social.

Check out the press release from Columbia Mailman. www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/hurrica...

Heat kills, more than we think and we can see. Heat intensified by climate change kills even more. For the 1st time, we conducted a rapid impact attribution study looking at the additional deaths that occurred due to climate change across 12 cities in Europe, in close to real-time: shorturl.at/mv6ms

This study is led by Dr. Qing Yao, in collaboration with Victoria Lynch, Molei Liu, ‪@wuxiao1993.bsky.social‬, and @robbieparks.bsky.social‬. Great pleasure discussing our findings with Sarah Kaplan and Kevin Crowe at the Washington Post. The preprint has not been peer-reviewed. ‪End/

A small team of us at Columbia (Sen Pei, Qing Yao, and me) collaborated with @washingtonpost.com to create a data-driven story about Hurricane Helene flooding and lack of evacuation added to the severe impacts:

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Great coverage of paper from @sciam.bsky.social:

www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

Planes de salud, calor, salud mental...

Un combo cada vez más preocupante.
Los investigadores solicitan apoyo específico para proteger a las comunidades vulnerables. #SaludPública

Most heat-health plans neglect mental health risks from extreme heat • Muser Press A new review published in Current Environmental Health Reports offers a global assessment of how mental health is addressed in official heat-health action plans

A global review finds most heat-health plans mention #mentalhealth but lack real interventions. As extreme #heat intensifies, researchers call for targeted support to protect vulnerable communities. #ClimateAdaptation #PublicHealth
DOI: doi.org/10.1007/s405...

A Critical Gap in Addressing Mental Health in Heat-Health Action Plans Worldwide - Current Environmental Health Reports Purpose of Review Extreme heat is associated with mental health conditions such as suicide, anxiety, and substance use disorders. However, the integration of mental health in heat-health planning rema...

This gap aligns closely with findings from a recent report by @physoc.bsky.social and @wellcometrust.bsky.social, which highlighted the urgent need to integrate mental health into climate adaptation strategies.

A Critical Gap in Addressing Mental Health in Heat-Health Action Plans Worldwide - Current Environmental Health Reports Purpose of Review Extreme heat is associated with mental health conditions such as suicide, anxiety, and substance use disorders. However, the integration of mental health in heat-health planning rema...

📢 A major new review has found that while over 75% of heat-health action plans mention mental health, only a fifth include any targeted interventions.

A Critical Gap in Addressing Mental Health in Heat-Health Action Plans Worldwide - Current Environmental Health Reports Purpose of Review Extreme heat is associated with mental health conditions such as suicide, anxiety, and substance use disorders. However, the integration of mental health in heat-health planning rema...

#tldr: Our new review found that while most Heat Health Action Plans mention mental health, very few detail specific impacts or include targeted interventions, highlighting a critical gap to be addressed in heat policies under climate change:

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

A Critical Gap in Addressing Mental Health in Heat-Health Action Plans Worldwide - Current Environmental Health Reports Purpose of Review Extreme heat is associated with mental health conditions such as suicide, anxiety, and substance use disorders. However, the integration of mental health in heat-health planning rema...

👏 Huge congratulations to Allison Stewart-Ruano, our wonderful PhD student, and co-authors for this crucial work: #ClimateHealth #PublicHealth #HeatAction #MentalWellbeing

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

🌍 We're seeing promising examples of integration (e.g., Southern Australia's heatwave early warning system: www.health.gov.au/sites/defaul...). It's time to ensure these vital mental health protections are routinely integrated into heat policies.

🔎 How well is this reflected in Heat Health Action Plans (HHAPs)?
👍 75.9% of HHAPs mention mental health.
🤔 But only 31.3% acknowledge specific heat-mental health impacts.
👎 And only 21.7% include targeted interventions.

😰 Growing evidence links extreme heat to negative mental health outcomes, from increased mortality in those with pre-existing conditions to higher psychiatric admissions.

A Critical Gap in Addressing Mental Health in Heat-Health Action Plans Worldwide - Current Environmental Health Reports Purpose of Review Extreme heat is associated with mental health conditions such as suicide, anxiety, and substance use disorders. However, the integration of mental health in heat-health planning rema...

🌡️ Out today! The first-ever review on how #MentalHealth features in Heat Health Action Plans is out now in #CurrentEnvironmentalHealthReports!

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#ClimateHealth #PublicHealth #HeatAction #MentalWellbeing

Details below:

Absolutely let’s talk!

Has been amazing to visit the @columbiauniversity.bsky.social Global Center in Santiago Chile! Many exciting projects on the horizon…

This paper was also one of NIEHS's papers of the month for March 2025!

factor.niehs.nih.gov/2025/2/paper...

January wasn't expected to break global temperature records. But it did The planet has been shattering heat records for the past two years. That was expected to ease in January — and the fact that it didn't has climate researchers worried.

"The last 10 years have been the 10 warmest years on record," a direct outcome of ongoing fossil fuel emissions, and this signals that warming risks could be even more dramatic than thought, says climate scientist Radley Horton of @lamontearth.bsky.social @columbiaclimate.bsky.social. Via @npr.org.

IPCC on LinkedIn: IPCC Working Group II TSU Call for Chapter Scientists | 19 comments 📣 Call for Applications for Chapter Scientists to support author teams for the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, scheduled for release in… | 19 comments on LinkedIn

For the urban health - climate folks, the IPCC still has a call out for Chapter scientists to contribute to the IPCC Special report on Climate Change and Cities.

The deadline is midnight CET on Friday 14 Feb🌹

In case of interest ⬇️
www.linkedin.com/posts/ipcc_i...

Large floods drive changes in cause-specific mortality in the United States - Nature Medicine Analyses of death records over the two decades in the United States reported greater mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases, injuries and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases associated with exposures to flooding events, particularly floods caused by tropical cyclones and heavy rain.

A study in Nature Medicine reports greater mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases, injuries and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases associated with exposures to flooding events in the US, particularly floods caused by tropical cyclones and heavy rain. #Medsky 🧪

Large floods drive changes in cause-specific mortality in the United States - Nature Medicine Analyses of death records over the two decades in the United States reported greater mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases, injuries and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases associated with exposures to flooding events, particularly floods caused by tropical cyclones and heavy rain.

A study in Nature Medicine reports greater mortality from infectious and parasitic diseases, injuries and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases associated with exposures to flooding events in the US, particularly floods caused by tropical cyclones and heavy rain. #Medsky 🧪

Check out our new work on floods and mortality in the U.S. An excellent 🧵 below @robbieparks.bsky.social