Senior Advisor, Climate and Health
John Balbus

John Balbus is a Senior Advisor for the Climate and Health program. He is also the Principal of Climate Care Consulting, LLC and former HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Climate Change and Health Equity. Trained as a physician in both Internal and Occupational and Environmental Medicine, he has devoted his professional career to understanding and addressing the health implications of climate change. He established and directed the HHS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity after serving twelve years as Senior Advisor for Public Health at the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences. Prior positions include serving as Chief Health Scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, and as Associate Professor and founding Acting Chairman of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. He received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Harvard University, his MD degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and his MPH from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.