New York-Presbyterian
Join us as leading experts explore topics in environmental justice, such as the intersection of health equity, socioeconomic disparities, and community empowerment, with a focus on inclusive solutions for a sustainable future.
Brian Donley, MD
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
NewYork-Presbyterian
Julia Iyasere, MD, MBA
Senior Vice President, Health Justice and Equity
Executive Director
NewYork-Presbyterian Dalio Center for Health Justice
Robert Bullard, PhD
Distinguished Professor of Texas Southern University
Founding Director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice
Aaron "Ari" Bernstein, MD, MPH
Director for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Justice Davis
Poet, Motivational Speaker, Brand Strategist
MODERATOR:
David Garza
President and Chief Executive Officer, Henry Street Settlement
PANELISTS:
Kizzy Charles-Guzman, MS
Chief Executive Officer, Center for Environmental Health
Chef Gregory Silverman, MSc
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, West Side Campaign Against Hunger
Founder, Roundtable NYC
Gernot Wagner, PhD
Climate Economist, Columbia Business School
Co-Author of "Climate Shock"
ImageThink Review
MODERATOR:
Julia Iyasere, MD, MBA
Senior Vice President, Health Justice and Equity
Executive Director
NewYork-Presbyterian Dalio Center for Health Justice
SPEAKER:
John Kerry, JD
68th U.S. Secretary of State
Brian Donley, MD, is Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian. In this role, he is responsible for directing the strategy and operations of NewYork-Presbyterian, developing the healthcare system’s patient-centered culture and strategic vision along with achieving the operating targets across the enterprise.
Dr. Donley, an orthopedic surgeon, has extensive expertise in clinical medicine and integrated healthcare delivery system operations. He is an experienced leader, guiding teams through uncertain and complex situations with a strong focus on empathy, culture, quality, and innovation. Prior to joining NYP in 2023, he served for over 25 years in numerous leadership positions at Cleveland Clinic. As CEO of Cleveland Clinic London from 2018-2022, he led a team in pushing through historic challenges posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Together they developed and opened Cleveland Clinic’s first hospital in Europe, a state-of-the art, 184-bed inpatient and ambulatory facility.
Previously Dr. Donley served as Cleveland Clinic’s Chief of Clinical Enterprise, leading the team of 45,000 people responsible for all clinical operations throughout North America. Before that, he was President of Cleveland Clinic’s Regional Hospitals and Family Health Centers. He also served as Vice Chair of its Department of Orthopedic Surgery, and is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Dr. Donley attended the University of Notre Dame, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan Medical School and completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at the University of Michigan. He also attended Harvard Business School, completing the Advanced Management Program.
Julia Iyasere, MD, MBA, is Executive Director of the Dalio Center for Health Justice and Senior Vice President of Health Justice and Equity at NewYork-Presbyterian. She leads the Dalio Center’s efforts to address long-standing health disparities due to race, socioeconomic differences, limited access to care, and other complex factors that disproportionately impact the well-being of our communities. Established in 2020, the Dalio Center for Health Justice works collaboratively with representatives from NewYork-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons to be a leader in understanding and improving health equity and to drive action that results in measurable improvements in health outcomes for all.
Dr. Iyasere brings more than a decade of experience in medicine to her role. She was previously the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Service Lines and the Co-Director of the Care Team Office. She was also Director of the Leadership Education and Development for Physicians (LEAD) Academy, Associate Designated Institutional Official for Graduate Medical Education at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and Associate Program Director of the Columbia Internal Medicine Residency Training Program. An Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Dr. Iyasere continues to see patients as an internist in the Section for Hospital Medicine.
Dr. Bernstein oversees CDC’s efforts to protect people’s health from environmental hazards by investigating the relationships between environmental factors and health, developing guidance, and building partnerships to support healthy decision making.
Before joining NCEH/ATSDR, Dr. Bernstein led the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and practiced pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital for nearly 20 years.
Dr. Bernstein is an internationally known leader in children’s environmental health, having spent his career working to ensure that all children can grow up in environments that enable them to live up to their full potential. His scholarship has explored a broad range of subjects, from toxic exposures to mercury and air pollution to global environmental changes such as climate change and the loss of biodiversity and their effects on health and health equity.
Dr. Bernstein has held many leadership and advisory positions. He has served on the steering committee for the National Academy of Medicine’s action collaborative on decarbonizing the U.S. healthcare sector, chaired the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Environmental Health, was an advisor to the Dalio Center for Health Justice at NewYork-Presbyterian, and was a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors to the CDC’s NCEH/ATSDR.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford University, Dr. Bernstein received his Doctor of Medicine and Master of Public Health from the University of Chicago and Harvard University, respectively. He is a recipient of Stanford University’s Firestone Medal for Research and a Harvard University Zuckerman Fellowship.
Robert D. Bullard is often described as the father of environmental justice. He is the former Dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University (2011–2016). Currently, Professor Bullard is Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy and Director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice. Before to coming to TSU, he was founding Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University. He received his PhD degree from Iowa State University. He is an award-winning author of 18 books that address sustainable development, environmental racism, urban land use, industrial facility siting, community reinvestment, housing, transportation, climate justice, disasters, emergency response and community resilience, smart growth, and regional equity. He is Co-Founder of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium. Dr. Bullard is a proud U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
He was featured in the July 2007 CNN People You Should Know, Bullard: Green Issue is Black and White. In 2008, Newsweek named him one of 13 Environmental Leaders of the Century. And that same year, Co-op America honored him with its Building Economic Alternatives Award (BEA). In 2010, The Grio named him one of the “100 Black History Makers in the Making,” and Planet Harmony named him one of “Ten African American Green Heroes.”
His book, “Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality” (Westview Press, 2000), is a standard text in the environmental justice field. Other books include “Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World” (MIT Press, 2003); “Highway Robbery: Transportation Racism and New Routes to Equity” (South End Press, 2004); “The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution” (Sierra Club Books, 2005); “Growing Smarter: Achieving Livable Communities, Environmental Justice, and Regional Equity” (MIT Press, 2007); and “The Black Metropolis in the Twenty-First Century: Race, Power, and the Politics of Place” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007). He is co-author of “In the Wake of the Storm: Environment, Disaster and Race After Katrina” (Russell Sage Foundation, 2006) and “Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: 1987–2007” (United Church of Christ Witness & Justice Ministries, 2007).
His latest books include “Race, Place and Environmental Justice After Hurricane Katrina” (Westview Press, 2009); “Environmental Health and Racial Equity in the United States” (American Public Health Association Press, 2011); and “The Wrong Complexion for Protection” (New York University Press, 2012). In 2013, he was honored with the Sierra Club John Muir Award, the first African American to win the award. In 2014, the Sierra Club named its new Environmental Justice Award after Dr. Bullard. In 2015, the Iowa State University Alumni Association named him its Alumni Merit Award recipient—an award also given to George Washington Carver (1894 ISU alum) in 1937. In 2017, the Children’s Environmental Health Network presented him with the Child Health Advocate Award.
In 2018, the Global Climate Action Summit named Dr. Bullard one of 22 Climate Trailblazers. And in 2019, Apolitical named him one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People in Climate Policy, Washington State University honored him with the William Julius Wilson Award for the Advancement of Social Justice, and Climate One presented him with the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication.
In 2020, WebMD gave Dr. Bullard its Health Heroes Trailblazer Award and the United Nations Environment Program honored him with its Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award, the UN’s highest environmental honor, recognizing outstanding leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment.
In 2021, President Joe Biden named Dr. Bullard to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. In 2022, the University of California, Berkeley Ecology Law Quarterly presented him with its Environmental Leadership Award; the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award; and Georgetown University and the University of Johannesburg awarded him honorary doctorates. In 2023, he received the Berkeley Ecology Law Quarterly Environmental Leadership Award, was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, was named a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, was awarded the American Geographical Society John E. Gould Medal, and was honored by Harvard Law School with its Environmental Law Society Horizon Award. In 2024, Clark University awarded him an honorary doctorate and he was also honored with the TIME Earth Award.
![Kizzy Charles-Guzman](<img width="640" alt="Kizzy Charles-Guzman.jpeg" src="https://nyp.widen.net/content/mi4dwpi1ci/jpeg/Kizzy%20Charles-Guzman.jpeg?w=640&keep=c&crop=yes&color=cccccc&quality=80&u=9sbpzo">)
Kizzy Charles-Guzman is the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Environmental Health. Her team protects people from toxic chemicals by working with communities, consumers, workers, government, and the private sector to demand and support business practices that are safe for public health and the environment. Kizzy has dedicated over 18 years of her career to delivering policy work at the intersection of environmental sustainability, public health, and racial equity on behalf of New Yorkers. She led the development of the country’s first strategy to address the public health impacts of rising temperatures and heat waves. She also spearheaded several initiatives aimed at ensuring that New York City residents are ready to withstand and emerge stronger from the effects of climate change, making the city more resilient. Kizzy has advised three New York City mayors in her career, successfully securing over $4 billion in investments to uplift historically underserved and marginalized neighborhoods. She received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Quality Award and a Champion of Change Award from the U.S. White House under President Obama in recognition of her policy achievements, her contributions to society, her focus on justice, and her dedication to her community. She is a graduate of Carleton College and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Justice Davis is a queer spoken word poet and young professional from Kansas City, MO, currently residing in Los Angeles. She received her B.S. in Business Marketing and Communications from Kansas State University in 2016. Her poetry explores the intersectionality of marginalized identities and its affinity toward themes such as mental health, faith, sexuality, equity, inclusion, and love. Her work has been featured at schools and universities across the country, Fortune 500 companies, and AdAge. With a professional career in marketing and brand strategy in the CPG industry, she has expanded her passion of storytelling beyond the page, stage, and classroom, leveraging her gift of moving audiences to help brands authentically move consumers.
David Garza has served as President and CEO since July 2010. He joined Henry Street’s Workforce Development Center in 2001 and was promoted to Chief Administrator in 2005. Garza is a graduate of Harvard College and the Institute for Not-for-Profit Management at Columbia Business School. A longtime advocate for educational and employment opportunities, fair and affordable housing, and strong and healthy families, Garza led Henry Street in 2019 to receive the Overall Management Excellence Award from Nonprofit New York. Throughout his tenure, he has deepened the Settlement’s community partnerships, creating an effective community advisory board and Lower East Side collaborations in workforce development and youth mental health. Garza’s leadership has also been marked by significant investments in Henry Street’s “People Strategy,” including a commitment to pay equity marked by an increase in the Settlement’s wage floor to $22 an hour, and comprehensive educational and emotional supports centered on the team. Garza serves on the executive committee of the board of directors for the New York City Employment and Training Coalition, the external advisory board of the Dalio Center for Health Justice of NewYork-Presbyterian, and the boards of the Betances Health Center and Citizens Committee for Children. In 2018, he was named by City & State New York to the inaugural Nonprofit Power 50 list. He is also a member of the NYC Regional Economic Development Councils and the Trinity Church Wall Street Neighborhood Council.
John Kerry served as the United States’ 68th Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017. As America’s top diplomat, he guided the State Department’s strategy on nuclear nonproliferation, combating radical extremism and the threat of climate change. His tenure was marked by the successful negotiation of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Climate Agreement. On January 20, 2021, he was sworn in as our nation’s inaugural Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and the first-ever Principal to sit on the National Security Council entirely dedicated to climate change. President Biden announced Kerry would have a seat at every table around the world as he combats the climate crisis to meet the existential threat that we face. From 1985 to 2013, he served as a U.S. senator representing Massachusetts. He was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2009 to 2013. Secretary Kerry served in the U.S. Navy, completing two combat tours of duty in Vietnam for which he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and three Purple Hearts. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from Boston College Law School.
Secretary Kerry is the best-selling author of “A Call to Service;” “This Moment on Earth,” with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry; and his 2018 memoir, “Every Day Is Extra,” which The New York Times described as “a bittersweet reminder of what the country once demanded of its leaders.”
Secretary Kerry was the Democratic Party’s nominee for president of the United States in 2004. On May 3, 2024, Secretary Kerry was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of his lifelong commitment to public service.
Over the past 20 years, Chef Greg Silverman has led impactful work in the food security sector. Under his leadership as CEO and Executive Director at West Side Campaign Against Hunger (WSCAH), the organization has expanded its direct efforts from one site to over two dozen, from an organization that gave out 10 percent fresh produce to one that gives out 50 percent fresh produce, and from serving less than 20,000 customers to more than 70,000. Under Greg’s guidance in 2018, WSCAH founded the Roundtable: Allies for Food Access¬—a dedicated network of eight emergency food providers collaborating to bring more resources to communities through collective food purchasing.
Previously, Greg served as the Director of National Program Partnerships for Share Our Strength and its No Kid Hungry Campaign, where he led the growth of the Cooking Matters nutrition education platform across all 50 states. Greg worked in London, England, as a nutrition education specialist for the city government, as a food consultant for public sector organizations, and as a successful chef and owner of multiple restaurants in Ithaca, New York. He also spent time as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Mali.
Greg was appointed Co-Chair of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ Food Policy transition committee. He serves on the Board of Directors of Farm Africa and is a founding board member of the Alliance for a Hunger Free New York.
Greg has an MSc in Food and Nutrition Policy from City, University of London. He loves spending time cycling the streets of New York City, making food with family and friends, and cooking up change with communities across the globe. Greg lives in Washington Heights with his wife, Lauren, and their two daughters.
Gernot Wagner is a climate economist at Columbia Business School. His research, teaching, and writing focus on climate risks and climate policy.
Gernot writes a monthly column for Project Syndicate and has written five books, including, most recently, “Geoengineering: the Gamble,” published by Polity (2021); “Stadt, Land, Klima” (“City, Country, Climate”), published in German by Brandstätter Verlag (2021); “Climate Shock,” jointly with Harvard’s Martin Weitzman and published by Princeton (2015), among others, a Top 15 FT McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2015, and Austria’s Natural Science Book of the Year 2017; and “But will the planet notice?”, published by Hill & Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2011).
Before joining Columbia as Senior Lecturer and serving as Faculty Director of the Climate Knowledge Initiative, Gernot taught at NYU, Harvard, and Columbia. He was the Founding Executive Director of Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program (2016–2019) and served as Economist at the Environmental Defense Fund (2008–2016), most recently as Lead Senior Economist (2014–2016), and as a member of its Leadership Council (2015–2016). Before the EDF, he worked for the Boston Consulting Group in Düsseldorf and New York and wrote for the Financial Times leader writer team in London. He has been a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Senior Fellow at the Jain Family Institute. He is a CEPR Research Fellow, a CESifo Faculty Fellow, a Faculty Affiliate at the Columbia Center for Environmental Economics and Policy, a member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change, and a Coordinating Lead Author of the Austrian Panel on Climate Change. He serves on the board of CarbonPlan.org.
Born and raised in Amstetten, Austria, Gernot graduated from high school in his hometown before moving to the U.S. for college. He holds a joint bachelor’s degree magna cum laude with highest honors in environmental science, public policy, and economics, and a master’s and a PhD in political economy and government from Harvard, as well as a master’s in economics from Stanford.
The Dalio Center has organized its work into four key strategic areas illustrated in the house: Data & Infrastructure, Clinical and Community Strategy, Research, and Leadership & Education. This report provides a summary of project work completed each year for every strategic area, as well as plans for next year.
As an academic medical center, we are committed to continuous improvement. The office of sustainability (NYPgreen) was established to ensure that as the hospital moves forward, we do so responsibly, maintaining our commitment to environmental stewardship.
