Kristie Ebi of the University of Washington School of Public Health was recently designated a National Associate of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, an honorary title that recognizes Ebi’s extraordinary service to help provide analysis and advice to the government and the public on matters of science, engineering and medicine.

“The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine perform a vital function for the nation: provide independent, expert advice on some of the pressing challenges facing the nation and the world, to inform sound policies and advance scientific understanding and application. The Academies have been doing so since 1863,” said Ebi, a professor in the UW School of Public Health’s departments of Global Health and Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences. “I am deeply honored to be designated a National Associate, and look forward to continuing my service.”

The honorary title – offered as a lifetime appointment – recognizes individuals who have served pro bono publico or as members on committees of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, as well as those who have served as reviewers of the National Academies’ draft reports.

Ebi is an expert on global change and health. She serves as chair on the National Academies’ Board of Environmental Change and Society, which mobilizes social and behavioral sciences to identify equitable and effective solutions to the challenges at the intersection of environmental change and society. She also serves as vice chair of the Committee to Advise the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

“This service is valued, honored and appreciated by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, as well as by the government and the public at large,” wrote the leaders of the National Academies in a Jan. 31 letter to Ebi.

Over the last two decades, Ebi has worked to understand sources of climate vulnerability, estimate current and future health risks of climate change, and design adaptation policies for countries in Central America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. She is the author of multiple national and international climate change assessments, including the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C, published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which highlights a number of climate change impacts that could be avoided by limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to 2°C. She also co-chairs the International Committee on New Integrated Climate Change Assessment Scenarios (ICONICS).