Joshua R Wortzel

Dr. Joshua R. Wortzel is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and Yale Department of Psychiatry. He specializes in child and adolescent psychiatry, with a focus on climate change’s mental health impacts. His roles include clinical work with young adults in intensive outpatient programs and research/advocacy (50% of his time). He chairs the American Psychiatric Association’s Climate Change and Mental Health Committee and co-chairs the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s Climate Change Committee. His research explores temperature’s effects on mental health, including suicide risk, youth vulnerability, and climate anxiety. He also studies psychiatry’s carbon footprint reduction strategies and climate distress in young people. Dr. Wortzel holds degrees from Harvard, Stanford, Cambridge, and the University of Rochester.

• Education:
• MD: Stanford University School of Medicine (2018)
• MPhil: University of Cambridge (Translational Medicine, 2014)
• MS: University of Rochester (Health Professions Education, 2022)
• AB: Harvard College (Human Developmental Biology, 2013)

Research Interests: Climate change’s biopsychosocial impacts on mental health, mechanisms linking temperature to mental health outcomes (e.g., sleep disruption, physical activity), and strategies to reduce healthcare’s environmental footprint. Current projects include wearable device studies tracking temperature’s real-time effects on mood. Future directions involve neurotransmitter levels and brain connectivity under temperature stress.

Publications Trends: Over 20 articles since 2021, focusing on climate mental health disparities, temperature-suicide correlations, pediatric psychiatry interventions, and sustainability in medical practice. Key themes include epidemiological studies, qualitative analyses, and educational toolkits for clinicians.

• Awards:
• AACAP Outstanding Mentorship Award (2023)
• Haffenreffer Family Excellence Award (2024)

Advising & Grants: No listed advisees or grants, but active in advocacy roles shaping institutional sustainability policies. Co-developed toolkits for psychiatrists addressing clinical, organizational, and advocacy roles in climate crises.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates with Yale co-authors like Dr. Daniel Carrión and Dr. Laelia Benoit. Engaged with the Climate Psychiatry Alliance, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry’s Climate Committee, and national non-profits.