Phoebe Merrick believes that she can have the most impact on climate mitigation efforts by communicating more directly to the public about how climate change affects human health.

“We talk about the economic reasons to mitigate climate change, but we don’t talk as often about the economic health benefits,” Merrick said. “I think that there's a place to move health communications to the forefront.”

Merrick grew up immersed in environmentalism. Her mother worked for a sustainable landscaping company, and Merrick used to tag along when her mom demonstrated green roofs at eco-fairs. While an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, Merrick studied environmental science, with an emphasis on ecology. After graduation, she worked at a firm that assessed the environmental risks of properties for investors, which gave her some insights into how climate change is impacting the health of people where they live and work. 

At Yale, Merrick is marrying her interest in climate and public health, researching how extreme weather-related power outages impact people who rely on power-dependent home medical equipment. 

“Power is going out more often as our electrical infrastructure is aging.  Storms are getting more powerful, and we see wildfires and other climate events disrupting the service,” she said. “I’m interested in a lot of these overlaps.”

Using the data visualization skills she learned at YSE, Merrick plans to pursue work in quantitative analysis and climate communication, helping to display data in ways that are accessible to the general public.