Gary Cohen
Healthcare emits roughly 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gases and is a major source of toxic chemical exposure, yet its leaders are still asked to treat sustainability as a corporate social responsibility line item. The tension is that the sector cannot meet its own clinical mission while operating supply chains, waste streams and energy systems that actively produce disease. Boards and executive teams need a credible account of how to convert climate and toxics commitments into operating decisions on procurement, infrastructure and capital allocation.
Gary Cohen is the co-founder and president of Health Care Without Harm, and he helps health systems, regulators and large institutions move climate and chemical safety from policy commitment into operating decisions on procurement, infrastructure and waste.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Gary Cohen
- He has demonstrably moved an entire sector. Under his leadership, U.S. medical waste incinerators fell from around 5,600 to fewer than 70, and mercury was effectively removed from U.S. medical devices, contributing to the global Minamata phase-out.
- He brings a network, not just a perspective. Health Care Without Harm operates with hospitals and health partners in more than 50 countries and convenes ministries of health, group purchasing organisations and major hospital systems.
- His credibility is recognised by the bodies that matter to senior buyers: MacArthur Fellow (2015), Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship (2006), and White House Champion of Change for Climate Change and Public Health (2013).
- He talks to executives in their own operating language. Procurement, capital projects, energy contracts, waste contracts, supply chain risk, not abstract sustainability narrative.
- He has spent nearly four decades inside the toxics and environmental health field, including running the National Toxics Campaign Fund and co-founding the Military Toxics Project, so he understands regulation, litigation and corporate response from multiple sides.
Biography highlights
- Co-founder and president, Health Care Without Harm, since 1996.
- President, Practice Greenhealth, the U.S. membership organisation for sustainable healthcare.
- MacArthur Fellow, 2015.
- Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, 2006; Frank Hatch Award for Enlightened Public Service, 2007.
- White House Champion of Change for Climate Change and Public Health, 2013.
- Co-author, “Fighting Toxics” (Island Press, 1990); former executive director, National Toxics Campaign Fund.
Biography
Hospitals exist to heal, yet the global health sector is responsible for around 4.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and remains a significant source of toxic chemical exposure. Reconciling that contradiction has been Gary Cohen’s working life for almost four decades.
He co-founded Health Care Without Harm in 1996 after a period running the National Toxics Campaign Fund and co-founding the Military Toxics Project. The organisation began as a response to the use of dioxin-emitting incineration, mercury thermometers and toxic plasticisers in routine medical care. It now works with hospital systems, ministries of health and purchasing organisations in more than 50 countries.
The track record is concrete. Mercury has been substantially eliminated from U.S. medical devices, with the work feeding into the Minamata Convention. Medical waste incinerators in the United States fell from roughly 5,600 in the late 1990s to fewer than 70 by 2006. Practice Greenhealth, the U.S. membership arm Cohen leads, gives hospital executives a structured way to act on procurement, energy and waste rather than restate intentions.
Recognition has followed the substance: a MacArthur Fellowship in 2015, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006, the Frank Hatch Award in 2007, and a White House Champion of Change designation for climate change and public health in 2013. What that record gives a senior audience is unusual: someone who can speak to climate, toxics and supply chain risk as an operator who has already redesigned a regulated sector at scale.
Key speaking topics
- Climate change as a public health issue
- Decarbonising the healthcare sector
- Toxic chemicals and supply chain redesign
- Sustainable procurement in regulated industries
- Hospital infrastructure, energy and waste
- Environmental health and community resilience
- Coalition building across regulators, providers and purchasers
Ideal for
- Boards and executive teams of health systems, hospital networks and pharmaceutical companies setting climate and chemical safety strategy
- Chief sustainability officers, chief procurement officers and capital planning leads in regulated, asset-heavy sectors
- Public sector health leaders, ministries of health and group purchasing organisations
- ESG, impact and philanthropic investors looking at health and climate intersections
Audience outcomes
- A clear view of where healthcare’s environmental footprint actually sits, by procurement category, energy use and waste stream
- A working model of how a sector moves from commitment to operating change, drawn from a redesign that has already happened
- Specific reference points on mercury elimination, incineration reduction and supply chain detoxification that translate to other regulated industries
- A more honest conversation about ESG substance versus ESG narrative, grounded in measurable sector outcomes