Emergency Physician & Human-Centered Design Innovator
Bella brings emergency medicine urgency to sustainability challenges. Board-certified in emergency medicine and a Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine, she combines frontline clinical experience with human-centered design principles learned through direct mentorship and LEAN certification. As a former Fellow in Climate and Health Policy through the University of Colorado, Bella understands that biodiversity loss isn’t just an environmental issue—it’s a healthcare crisis requiring immediate intervention. Through her work with San Francisco General Hospital’s Better Lab, she’s proven that design thinking can transform healthcare delivery, making it both more effective and more sustainable.
Bella’s Recommendations:
- Interconnecting Global Threats: climate change, biodiversity loss, infectious diseases (Interconnecting global threats: climate change, biodiversity loss, and infectious diseases, Pfenning-Butterworth, Alaina et al., The Lancet Planetary Health, Volume 8, Issue 4, e270 – e283)
- tl;dr: Table 1 gives short observational stories about the complex connections between these 3 phenomena. Take 5 minutes to quickly see how biodiversity is intrinsically linked, both positively and negatively, to the climate and our health.
- Against the Grain: How farmers around the globe are transforming agriculture to nourish the world and heal the planet. By: Robert Thurow. A collection of stories from around the world about the effects of industrial agriculture and the new revolution of conservation practices in farming.
- Palaces for the People: One of my favorite reads. Adaptation efforts can be low cost and creative. This book is written by a sociologist and highlights stark differences in mortalities of 2 comparable zip codes during a Chicago heat wave. It makes the argument that parks, libraries, and community gathering sites can be life saving in the event of a disaster. Highly recommend!
Connect with Bella about: Human-centered design in healthcare, biodiversity and health connections, applying design thinking to climate health challenges, planetary health and sustainable food systems