Sheetal Rao MD

🌇 If you think it’s hot outside today, 30 years ago, Chicago was in the midst of a public health crisis in the form of a deadly heatwave. To find out whether Chicago is prepared for future heatwaves, listen to @uiceohs.bsky.social's @khedrao.bsky.social on @wbez.org at www.wbez.org/reset-with-s...

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons WBEZ's Reset brings context to the latest Chicago-area news with experts, journalists and newsmakers. Want to be a connected Chicagoan in the know? Subscribe to this podcast! You can email the team be...

Our panel on extreme heat and what’s changed since the Chicago heat wave 30 yrs ago www.wbez.org/reset-with-s... Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - WBEZ Chicago

Teaching 18-25 year olds about air pollution this week as part of @uicpublichealth.bsky.social @uiceohs.bsky.social new Greening Remedies for Optimal Wellness (GROW) institute. Anyone have a 20-50 minute fun, interactive activity to help them understand #airpollution? #climateeducation

How to stay safe and comfortable during the coming heat wave A heat wave with high humidity will envelop large parts of the U.S. in the coming days. NPR asks University of Illinois Health's Dr. Sheetal Rao about staying safe and comfortable.

‘How to stay safe and comfortable during the coming heat wave’

Words from @khedrao.bsky.social in Morning Edition today. I appreciate the clarification on heat and humidity and their effect on the most vulnerable.

Thanks for sharing!

Practical tools to align planetary health objectives within the current Liaison Committee on Medical Education accreditation Process The preparedness of health professionals to address the climate crisis is increasingly important for the health and well-being of society at large. As…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Practical tools to align planetary health objectives within the current Liaison Committee on Medical Education accreditation Process - ScienceDirect

“Resistant pathogens aren’t confined to national borders. Pathogens can be spread by means of changing climatic conditions or wind patterns or carriage on human travelers, long-range birds or bats, or contaminated imports, among other mechanisms.”

“Addressing this complex problem requires a #OneHealth approach, relying on the concept that human, animal, and environmental health are interconnected.”

“Use of these pesticides may select for resistant fungi in the environment, which can then endanger human health.”

“An increasingly recognized public health challenge is the mechanistic similarity between some antifungal pesticides used in agriculture and ..essential antifungal drugs.”

Addressing Antifungal Drug Resistance — A “One Health–One World” Challenge | NEJM Use of some antifungal pesticides may select for resistant fungi in the environment, which can then endanger human health. Coordinated regulatory processes in this area are important.

Antifungal compounds are vital for protecting the health of humans, animals, and plants.”
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... Addressing Antifungal Drug Resistance — A “One Health–One World” Challenge | New England Journal of Medicine

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Trump’s NIH cuts aren’t just numbers. They are delayed cures, abandoned treatments, futures stolen, lives that will be lost. This is why we Stand Up For Science.

#StandUpForScience
#SummerFightForScience

😂

www.union-bulletin.com/opinion/opin... Commentary: Blue Origin flight reminds us there is no feminism without environmentalism | Opinion Columns | union-bulletin.com

As the anniversary of the deadly 1995 heat wave approaches, Chicago is working with community members, university partners, and healthcare professionals in developing new measures to keep residents safe. Chicagoans: Help us shape heat policy by completing this survey by 6/10: lnkd.in/g2K8dhUd #heat

Sheetal Khedkar Rao: The Blue Origin flight reminds us that there is no feminism without environmentalism The Blue Origin flight showed that privileged women can, thanks to space tourism, pollute Earth just as easily as wealthy men.

My editorial in today’s Chicago Tribune on #climatechange and #womenshealth www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/23/o... #opedproject #publicvoices #planetaryhealth

At the end of this summer, the future of U.S. science and research will be decided.

From weather alerts to cancer breakthroughs, science shapes every part of our lives.
We need everyone in this fight.

The Summer Fight for Science starts now. Are you in?

The fight starts here: bit.ly/4ddiuqU

Antibiotics in the global river system arising from human consumption Abstract. The presence of antibiotics in surface waters poses risks to aquatic ecosystems and human health due to their toxicity and influence on antimicro

🧪 Antibiotics in our rivers: a global problem

A new study has found that 8,500 tonnes of antibiotics from human use end up in rivers every year. In 6 million km of rivers, levels are high enough to harm ecosystems or promote resistance.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/pnas...

#SciComm #WaterQuality #AMR

House Republicans waited until the middle of the night to pass a measure that gives away millions of acres of public lands to private developers and oil and gas, mining, and logging corporations.

Cognitive Performance and Long-term Exposure to Outdoor Air Pollution: Findings from the Harmonised Cognitive Assessment Protocol Sub-Study of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA-HCAP) AbstractBackground. Although air pollution is associated with worse cognitive performance, whether these relationships differ by cognitive domain and which

🌫️🧠 Air pollution harms brain health – especially language.

A UK study links long-term exposure to NO₂ and PM2.5 with worse cognition in older adults, with the strongest effects on language ability.

Even 'average' pollution levels carry risks

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gero...

#SciComm #AirPollution 🧪

Opinion: Sea Grant funding whiplash a warning to us all This decision had nothing to do with legitimate policymaking or government efficiency. It had nothing to do with who can play on high school teams. It didn’t even have to do with fishing.

“Gov. Mills stood up to a playground bully and incited his wrath. Fortunately, Mainers know when something stinks. And when it comes to protecting our independence and our fishing heritage, we also know how to fight.” Powerful op-ed from @conathan.bsky.social. www.pressherald.com/2025/03/08/o...

The polycrisis (equity, peace and environment) needs more activism..that thoughtfully integrates creativity and challenges norms in ways that trigger our imagination and appeal to a willingness to act.

An active academia for peace and sustainability With discontent rising in response to insufficient action to address climate, biodiversity, equity, democracy, and peace challenges, activism is preva…

"Academics can no longer resort to only publishing papers... there is a need to consider how to make best use of academic knowledge & creativity to support diverse activism: in board rooms, with corporate leaders, with politicians, youth organisations, universities, & in the streets"

Rubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts.

Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressionally mandated. They’ve saved millions of lives. 🧵

When it comes to boycotting, just a thought. It’s okay if you can’t quit a company cold turkey. In Master Gardeners, when we encourage people to switch to native plants, the goal is 70% native, not 100%. If you were shopping at a store 80% of the time and cut it back to 60%, that 20% still hurts.

BP shifts course, boosting fossil fuel investments and cutting renewables BP said on Wednesday it would increase annual oil and gas investment to $10 billion, returning the focus to fossil fuels, as part of CEO Murray Auchincloss' efforts to boost returns and improve financial performance.

The Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of stone.

Society has changed before at the scale we need it to today: but that change was never catalyzed by presidents, PMs, or CEOs of the richest companies of the time.

The fossil fuel age won’t end until we ordinary people demand it does.

Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act 1990-2020, the Second Prospective Study | US EPA In March 2011, EPA issued the Second Prospective Report which looked at the results of the Clean Air Act from 1990 to 2020 to assess the benefits and the costs of the entire Clean Air Act.

Check out this detailed cost-benefit analysis on the Clean Air Act, from 1990-2010.

"Our central benefits estimate exceeds costs by a factor of more than 30 to one, and the high benefits estimate exceeds costs by 90 times. Even the low benefits estimate exceeds costs by about three to one."

The Moral Injury of Inhaler Prescribing | NEJM Many inhalers that are vital for patients with asthma or COPD are associated with societal harms that can worsen the very diseases the products are designed to treat. How can this dilemma be resolved?

Metered-dose asthma inhalers contain HFAs with over >1000 X’s the global warming potential of CO2. These lung disease treatments account for ~3% of the carbon footprint of the UK’s NHS and in the U.S. cause emissions roughly equivalent to those of 550,000 cars each year. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Trump’s siege of science: how the first 30 days unfolded and what’s next The breakneck pace and devastating impact of the administration’s policy changes has shocked researchers.

It matters that scientists speak out against what is being done to US science.

Staying silent is neither "objective" nor "staying out of politics".

Silence now *is* political - it supports the status quo, says "nothing to worry about".

We need to sound the alarm.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...