Scholar Profile
Harleen Marwah
Medicine
Biography
Harleen is a resident physician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and was recently appointed as a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
Prior to medical school, Harleen earned her M.S. in Global Medicine and B.S. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention from the University of Southern California. She also engaged in collaborative work with the United Nations on The Paris Agreement, attending the COP20 in Lima, Peru and COP21 in Paris, France.
During medical school, Harleen continued her active engagement at the intersection of health and climate change through research, curriculum reform, and advocacy. She founded Medical Students for a Sustainable Future, a community of over 200 medical students across 33 states, D.C., and the Caribbean catalyzing action to prevent and address the health harms of climate change. Her leadership in this area earned her the 2020 Emerging Physician Leader Award from Health Care Without Harm.
In addition to her work in health and climate, Harleen is a fierce advocate for health equity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she created the premiere community resource guide in Washington, D.C. (www.dccovidconnect.org) to empower community members with information to stay informed and safe during an uncertain time. DC COVID Connect is widely used across the city's health care facilities and community organizations, has evolved from a 130 page guide into an easily navigable website featuring full translation into 12 languages, and is being developed into a mobile app for continued expanded access to information.
High school: Lutheran High School La Verne
Degrees
| College | Year | Degree |
|---|---|---|
University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA |
2015 | M.S. Global Medicine |
University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA |
2015 | B.S. Health Promotion & Disease Prevention |
George Washington UniversityWashington, DC |
2021 | M.D. Medicine |
News and Highlights
Leading the Nation Towards a Healthier Climate. Dr. Harleen Marwah, MS ‘11, was appointed to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council to provide recommendations to the federal government on environmental justice. As a pediatrician and Editorial Fellow at the New England Journal of Medicine, Harleen is making an impact nationally and globally, having joined the UPenn delegation to COP28 the United Nations’ largest climate change conference hosted in Dubai, UAE.
Recognizing Impact: Congratulations to Harleen Marwah, MS ’11, who was named a 2021 Grist 50 Fixer, an annual list of “emerging leaders from across the U.S. who are working on fresh, real-world solutions to our world's biggest challenges.” Harleen, a medical student at George Washington University, was recently matched for her residency in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Climate Crisis and Public Health: Harleen Marwah, MS '11 was recently featured in the Huffington Post for her work leading a volunteer grassroots coalition called Medical Students for a Sustainable Future, with more than 100 students from 34 medical schools and programs across the U.S. (including Sarah Hsu, MS '13) focused on coordinating efforts to push for more education on the intersection between climate change and public health. Read the article here.
Food for Thought: Harleen Marwah, MS ’11, reflects on her time at the UN Conference in Rome investigating the relationship between diet and disease.
Eliminating Food Waste: Harleen Marwah, MS ’11 connected with Robert Lee, CEO of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, an organization that aims to curb food waste in New York City. Harleen interviewed Mr. Lee for a writing competition on food security and was subsequently selected to attend the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Committee on Food Security Conference in Rome, Italy this October. Read her article here.
Changing Climates: Harleen Marwah, MS '11, is the youth liaison for the SeaTrust Institute’s delegation at the United Nations International Conference on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris, where she is helping to lead their efforts to engage young people around the world on topics that include agriculture and food safety, indigenous populations, interfaith perspectives and moral obligation, intergenerational equity, and public health.
Chalk it Up: USC’s Harleen Marwah, MS ’11, dreamt up Chalk the Block, a creative community event where children from South Los Angeles were invited to come onto campus last February and decorate sections of pavement with their dreams. The event received the honor of the National Association of College and University Residence Halls' "Event of the Month" for innovative programming, and now it’s blueprint is being implemented at schools across the country.