Illinois Clinicians for Climate Action

Japhia Jayasingh-Ramkumar MD, FACP, is a board certified internist practicing at McKinley Health Center caring for a diverse student population and Director of Simulation Education at the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign (UIUC). She is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Illinois, Carle Illinois College of Medicine and American University of Antigua. 

She has two decades of experience in medical education with areas of focus in cross cultural medical education and in the last several years on the enormously important issues of the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises. She is actively involved in developing medical school curriculum and educating the medical community locally, nationally, and internationally on the topic of Climate Change and its Health Impacts. She is on the board of directors of the Champaign County Medical Society

In the community she has worked in the public schools to educate students about the connection between planetary health and personal health. She is a Master Gardener engaged in education programming through the UIUC Extension Office and developed curriculum for the Community Garden Program at the Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center where she served as co-chair for over a decade. She has also been involved with educating the community about the importance of biodiversity and especially pollinators, creating habitats for them resulting in the creation of the UIUC Extension Office Pollinator Pocket Program.

Robert Needleman, MD, graduated from Boston University School of Medicine and completed an Emergency Medicine residency at Cook County Hospital, in Chicago, where stayed on as faculty. He is interested in addressing the social determinants of health that contribute to his patients’ wellbeing, particularly environmental, nutrition/food insecurity, and community violence factors. As faculty at Cook County Hospital, he is currently developing a social emergency medicine curriculum to educate faculty, resident physicians, and medical students. He holds an assistant professor position on the faculty of Rush Medical College. 

Professor Peter Orris, MD, MPH, FACP, FACOEM, is a Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences in the University of Illinois School Public Health and is Chief of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the UIC Hospital and Health Sciences System, part of a World Health Organization Collaborating Center at the University. He holds Professorships on the faculties of the Northwestern and Rush Medical Schools in Preventive and Internal Medicine. Dr. Orris has served as advisor to WHO, PAHO, as well as Federal, State and Local Governments, environmental organizations, labor unions and corporations. He served on the State of Illinois’ Board of Health for a decade, and the US/Canadian Health Professionals Task Force of the International Joint Commission for 16 years. He is a member of the American Medical Association and has been a representative on the Council of the Chicago Medical Society and a delegate to the Illinois State Medical Society for several decades. He currently co-chairs the Environmental Caucus of the World Medical Association and is a liaison for American Public Health Association to the World Federation of Public Health Associations. He is a Board member of both Chicago Physicians for Social Responsibility and Chicago Physicians for a National Health Program.

Holly Rosencranz, MA, MD, is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, where she completed her internal medicine residency. She has over 30 years of experience in clinical medicine and medical education. A Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Illinois and Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and former residency program director, her present roles include teaching physical diagnosis, co-directing the internal medicine clerkship, and serving as an advisor for medical students at multiple campuses. She co-teaches Climate Change, Law and Health in the undergraduate Campus Honors Program. She is on the board of directors of the Champaign County Medical Society, a member of the Illinois State Medical Society and the AMA. She is active in numerous educational and advocacy initiatives to support climate change education and mitigation through enhancing medical school curriculum, drafting medical society resolutions, and teaching seminars locally, nationally, and internationally.

Myrtis Sullivan, MD, MPH, is a board-certified pediatrician and currently holds the position of Community Physician Faculty and Lecturer at the Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University. She is also an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Community Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health. 

Dr. Sullivan was the State of Illinois’ Title V/Maternal and Child Health Director from 2006-2010. Other clinical and professional experience include the following positions: Medical Director of Pediatric Emergency Services at Cook County Hospital (now John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County), Attending Physician/Great Lakes Children’s Environmental Health Center and faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health (Community Health Sciences and Maternal and Child Health).

She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Child Healthcare Foundation. She is the immediate past president of the Cook County Physicians Association (CCPA), a local chapter of the National Medical Association (NMA). She is also a former Board member of the Chicago Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR).

Dr. Sullivan’s research experience and interests include the following: Maternal and child health policy; elimination of maternal and infant mortality and other health-related inequities; pediatric environmental health, bronchial asthma and community-based participatory research.