Cynthia Klein-Banai & Dr. Sheetal Khedkar Rao, MD

Dr. Cynthia Klein-Banai has a Ph.D. in Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (EOHS) from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). She holds an adjunct assistant professor appointment within the School of Public Health. She founded the UIC Office of Sustainability 15 years ago as Associate Chancellor and then Assistant Vice-Chancellor of Sustainability. Her team provided institutional value in supporting sustainability planning, projects, and reporting, while enhancing UIC’s mission of student success, improving public health, and serving the communities of Chicago. She oversaw the drafting and publication of two climate action plans, and a sustainability strategic thinking process that resulted in the implementation of strategies to achieve the UIC Climate Commitments of Carbon Neutral, Zero Waste, Net Zero Water, and Biodiverse University.

Dr.Sheetal Khedkar Rao, MD, is the Co-Founder, Chief Health and Engagement Officer of Nordson Green Earth. Dr. Rao obtained her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. She studied medicine at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and completed her residency at the University of IL, Chicago (UIC) where she now cares for patients and trains future physicians as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine. She went on to complete a Climate and Health Community Organizing Fellowship through Harvard’s Center for Health Equity Education & Advocacy in 2022 as well as the Climate and Health Science Policy Fellowship through the University of Colorado Medical School in 2023.Dr. Rao is also a Clinical Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Division of the UIC School of Public Health.