In the Beginning…
I’m Reed Omary—a physician, scientist, educator, and now, planetary health entrepreneur.
For more than 25 years, I’ve worked in academic medicine. I led a department of over 700 people, chaired a medical group with more than 2,000 clinicians, and co-led a strategic plan for a medical center with 30,000 employees.
It was deeply rewarding work. But during the pandemic, I felt something shift. Doing the same thing each day didn’t suit my ADHD-adjacent brain. I wanted to make a broader impact.
Here are my goals I landed on:
- Thinking beyond the walls of one institution.
- Redefining health to include people, communities, and the planet.
- Leaving a legacy for my children and future grandchildren…long after I’m gone.
This new mindset completely re-energized me. I had found my new calling: advancing the health of people and the planet. I even thought this might help spark a new kind of PCP: the planetary care physician.
The Road (Not) Taken
After more than a decade leading Vanderbilt’s Department of Radiology, I stepped down in summer 2023 to take a sabbatical.
Sabbatical (noun): a rare privilege for lucky academics to step away, breathe, and learn something new.
In taking a sabbatical, I felt equal parts lucky and restless. Reading books on climate, health, and sustainability helped, but it wasn’t enough. As an extrovert, I missed people and the joys of human connection. I also didn’t think what was already written was enough.
So I did what scientists do: started collecting new data. Over the course of a year, I interviewed hundreds of people from all walks of life. The interviews ranged from chefs to CEOs; poets to politicians; and students to scientists.
In essence, I became a scientist-journalist devoted to climate and health. I listened, asked questions, and tried to make sense of a system that appeared senseless.
And I tracked everything. Every interview, every insight, and every pattern were logged into a growing spreadsheet. That spreadsheet, which I called “Discovery”, became the seed for what came next.
The Green Leap
By fall of 2023, it was time to share what I was learning. While I had no website or blogging experience, I launched The Green Leap, a blog about sustainable healthcare. I kicked it off with a simple statement:
“Medicine has always been in the business of healing. Let’s now start healing the planet.”
The blog became my public notebook—a place to clarify my thinking, share experiences, build community, and elevate new voices.
Some of those voices stand out:
Emma Rens, a top biomedical engineering student at Northwestern, wrote about surgical ecodesign at Lurie Children’s Hospital. She’s now a Fulbright Scholar in the Netherlands.
Alex Kinnebrew, an expert in human-centered design, wrote a post comparing climate-aware clinicians to June bugs—drawn to the light.
And then there was Liz Schumacher, CEO of Affinity Strategies and a four-time kidney transplant recipient. Her story, both personal and professional, deeply moved me. In our many conversations, Liz and I kept returning to the same point: we cannot separate environmental health from patient health.
The Spark
Those conversations made something clear. For all the talk about sustainable medicine, no one knew what patients really thought.
Liz and I were confused. After all, we are all patients. And yet, patients were being left out of climate and health conversations.
Launching Greenwell Project
So in the summer of 2024, together with Alex Kinnebrew and Jon Henderson, we launched Greenwell Project.
Greenwell’s mission is simple:
To design sustainable medicine together with patients.
We believe patients are experts in their own care.
Patients know what matters.
Patients spot what’s wasteful.
Patients notice what’s broken—and where opportunities are hiding.
Their insights, when translated by Greenwell, can unlock real value…for hospitals, suppliers, pharma, and device makers.
Sustainability is not just about reducing harm. It’s about designing systems that work better. Doing so leads to:
- Better quality
- Better outcomes
- Stronger supply chains
- Smarter innovation
- Lower costs
- Greater efficiency
All while protecting the one planet we depend on.
Greenwell is more than a nonprofit. We are a platform to work together with stakeholders across medicine. We are a catalyst to rethink what healthcare can be. And we are a growing community for those who know healthcare can do better.
If this mission speaks to you, we hope that you’ll join us. We can build the future of sustainable medicine together.
Please reach out below to get involved.
Thanks for your time, your curiosity, and your care.
