Spotlight on George Downward

ECTMIH 2023 Local Organising Committee: George Downward

This week we spoke to ECTMIH 2023 Local Organising Committee member Dr George Downward to find out more about his role and his hopes for your November congress:

George is an assistant professor at the University Medical Center Utrecht and affiliated researcher at Utrecht University with a focus on environmental and planetary health research. 

He has a background in clinical medicine, global health, and environmental epidemiology and his research focuses on how our changing environment impacts our health, particularly in low-resource settings.

Some key takeaways from George

The rationale for planetary health as the overarching focus of ECTMIH2023 

At its core, planetary health has a very pronounced equity or global health focus; this focus will enable ECTMIH 2023 to more broadly consider how our changing planet and our changing environment impacts everyone around the world, in resource-rich and resource-deprived settings. 

Aspects of the ECTMIH 2023 programme George is most proud of so far

There's a real diversity in the conference programme, neatly unified under the planetary health focus; this is going be really interesting and stimulating for all the delegates.

What to expect from your visit to Utrecht

Utrecht is a very beautiful city and the Netherlands, slightly off the beaten track. There's a wonderful canal running right through the city centre, so delegates will be able to enjoy great shopping and dining in a unique setting, right on the banks of the canal.

Check out the full interview with George here: