Rate My Professor Rebecca Patrick

Rebecca Patrick is an Associate Professor in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, at the University of Melbourne. She holds the position of Senior Research Fellow in the Disaster, Climate and Adversity Unit and serves as Academic Convener of the Climate CATCH Lab. Previously, she was Director of the Sustainable Health Network in the Faculty of Health and Co-lead of the Health Nature Sustainability Research Group at Deakin University. Prior to her academic career, Patrick spent over a decade working in health promotion and prevention with priority populations in the UK, Africa, and Australia. Her academic qualifications include a Doctor of Philosophy from Deakin University (2012), a Graduate Diploma in Environmental Health from Curtin University (2021), a Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) from Deakin University (1996), and a Postgraduate Certificate from Deakin University.

Patrick's research focuses on the health impacts of climate change, including climate-related mental health interventions, sustainable healthcare, planetary health, and psychosocial impacts of extreme weather events. She leads initiatives using participatory, qualitative, and co-design methods for research, policy engagement, and capacity-building in climate and health assessment. In leadership roles, she has served as former President and Chair of the Australian Climate and Health Alliance, Co-Lead of the Planetary Health Alliance Oceania Regional Hub, and Co-Lead of the Climate and Public Health Education Network within the Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australia. She has secured significant funding, including nearly $1 million from the National Health and Medical Research Council in 2025 for a project developing and scaling youth mental health interventions for climate distress, co-led with Orygen, and participation in the Wellcome Trust-funded PAVE-Health initiative. Key publications include 'Three Reasons Why Expecting "Recovery" in the Context of the Mental Health Impacts of Climate Change Is Problematic' (2023), 'Minding environment, minding workers: environmental workers\' mental health and wellbeing' (2022), 'Healthy Me, Healthy Planet: Evaluation of a pilot planetary health library program' (2024), 'Climate Change and Youth: Fast-Tracking Mental Health Solutions' (2025), and 'Vulnerability and psychosocial impacts of extreme weather events' (2025). Her contributions advance evidence-based responses to climate-health challenges.