Shlomit Paz

Full Professor (PhD)

School of Environmental Sciences

Head, Climate and Environmental Sustainability Center 

University of Haifa, Israel

shlomit@geo.haifa.ac.il

The Lower Galilee, Israel (my home), during winter.

About Me...


I am a climatologist investigating the scientific basis and the impacts of the changing climate. 

Over the years, my research has focused on analyzing, expanding and deepening scientific knowledge on the human health impacts of climate change, with special attention to the influences on the transmission of vector-borne diseases at regional and global levels.  In my work I explore the diverse effects on the eruption, spreading and transmission of infectious diseases, mainly those transmitted by insects (West Nile virus, Leishmania) but also food-borne (campylobacter) and water-borne (cholera) diseases. In addition, I am involved in a large project on the association between severe heat and the risk of stroke among the Israeli population. My work is focused not only on scientific aspects but also on practical recommendations for a better preparedness and adaptation to the health risks resulted by the climate crisis.

My publications appear in leading peer-reviewed journals such as The BMJ, Nature Climate Change, Environmental Research Letters, Environmental Research, The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, Parasites & Vectors, following previous publications in The Lancet, Philos. Trans. of the Royal Society B., Journal of Climate, Geophysical Research Letters, PloS One, EcoHealth among others.

I am involved in various international, European, Mediterranean and Israeli projects on the current and predicted impacts of climate change. During recent years I worked as the leader of a research for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on the current and predicted impacts of climate change on vector-borne diseases spreading in Europe. I am a member of the Steering Committee of the MedECC (network of Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change) that includes about 650 scientists from 35 states from the Mediterranean and Europe. I was a contributor to the Human Health section of the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, a reviewer of the Adaptation Gap Report of the UN, and the Coordinating Lead Author of the Health chapter, MedECC Report on Environmental and Climate Change Impacts on the Mediterranean Basin Countries (published by the Union for the Mediterranean, Plan Bleu and UNEP/MAP). 

In Israel, I am a member of the Israel Climate Forum of The President of the State of Israel and a member of the Climate Committee of the The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. 




Contact


School of Environmental Sciences 

Rabin Building (room 8014)

University of Haifa 

199 Aba Khoushy Ave. 

Mount Carmel 

Haifa 3498838, Israel

Tel: +972-4-8249617 (office); +972-54-6408097 (mobile)

Email: shlomit@geo.haifa.ac.il