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Indian-origin student at Duke connects climate change to medical research
Originally from West Bengal, Trisha Dalapati told Duke Today that her personal experience with climate-linked infectious diseases has shaped her research trajectory.
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Pranavi Sharma - Fri, 16, May 2025
- 01:01 EDT
- 142
Trisha Dalapati. / Duke Today
Trisha Dalapati, an M.D./Ph.D. student at Duke University originally from West Bengal, India, is using her dual training in medicine and science to spotlight the growing connection between climate change and public health.
Dalapati, who grew up in the United States and spent time with family in India, told Duke Today that her personal experience with climate-linked infectious diseases has shaped her research trajectory. “I saw firsthand how climate influences these diseases in the communities where my family lives,” she said. “I've had several relatives get malaria and dengue, and my aunt recently passed away from dengue. It’s very much a personal connection.”
Her academic interest in infectious diseases began at the University of Georgia, where she studied malaria during pregnancy—an area of concern as climate change increases the potential for mosquito-borne disease transmission.
“I’ve always been interested in medicine, but it wasn’t until my undergraduate research that I realized how deeply climate change is affecting global health,” she told Duke Today.
At Duke, Dalapati served as the sustainability chair in the medical school and joined a team that integrated climate and health topics into the curriculum. The collaboration resulted in a pilot course that is now available globally through Coursera.
“As a first-year medical student, I took a Coursera course, and it was awesome,” Dalapati said. “You could learn at your own pace and watch it from anywhere… The vision of the initial group of 10 of us was: let’s make a course that can be readily accessed by people all over the world.”
AnnMarie Walton, the Dorothy L. Powell Term hair of Nursing at the Duke School of Nursing, worked with Dalapati to develop the course. “Working with Trisha on the pilot course was truly a gift,” Walton said. “She did it all with the enthusiasm, energy and curious spirit that is characteristic of Duke’s best and brightest students.”
Dalapati also teamed up with Duke environmental scientist Brian McAdoo to co-host the Climate Pulse podcast, which explores how climate change intersects with healthcare. The first three episodes are now streaming on Spotify.
“Climate change isn’t just about rising temperatures,” Dalapati told Duke Today. “It’s also about the real-world health impacts, from heat stroke to the spread of infectious diseases. We hope the podcast provides a platform where experts can share practical knowledge with both healthcare workers and the broader public.”
Reflecting on her clinical rotations during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dalapati said, “It became clear that infectious diseases are a global issue, and the link to climate is undeniable. Climate change is affecting our health in ways that we’re only beginning to understand.”
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