Reducing Environmental Harms of Care
This panel will highlight innovative, evidence-based strategies to reduce the environmental harms of care. Panelists will demonstrate through case studies how data-driven approaches, interprofessional collaboration, and behavior change models can cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce waste, and lower costs—while maintaining clinical safety and efficiency. Together, these projects illustrate scalable models for embedding environmental sustainability into everyday health care practices.
This panel will be moderated by Dr. Anita Rao and feature talks from:
Speakers
Talk Title: Greening the Operating Room – Experience at a Tertiary Care Pediatric Hospital
Bio: Dr. Elaine Ng is a pediatric anesthesiologist and co-chair of the Perioperative Care Unit Greening Committee at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada.
Talk Title: Not All Operating Room Garbage Is the Same: The Impact of Properly Sorting Biohazardous Waste
Bio: Elisabeth Perlikowski worked in the private sector for 16 years in process engineering, continuous improvement, and quality management before moving into environmental sustainability. First, she worked in the social housing sector, benchmarking energy and greenhouse gas emissions. Elisabeth then switched to healthcare. Prior to joining The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) as the Energy and Environmental Sustainability Program Manager, she managed the Ontario Hospital Association’s green health care program, which included the Green Hospital Scorecard. Elisabeth has a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and a master’s in environmental science and management.
Talk Title: Waste and Disposal Practices in the Bronchoscopy Suite
Bio: Dr. Michelle Sheojung Shin is currently a PGY5 Adult Respirology resident at the University of Toronto. She has a special interest in minimally invasive procedures in the world of respirology to help diagnose and improve quality of life of cancer patients. Michelle is passionate about learning how we as clinicians can reduce our carbon footprint. When she is not in the clinic or bronchoscopy suite, Michelle loves to go hiking with friends and scope out different bakeries as she has a big sweet tooth.
Talk Title: Optimizing the Head and Neck Minor Dissecting Surgical Tray: A Quality Improvement Initiative to Reduce Costs and Carbon Footprint Using Kotter’s Change Model
Bio: Alina Zgardau is a third-year medical student at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry (Western University). She holds a BSc from the University of Guelph and an MSc from the University of Toronto. Her research interests include environmental sustainability, and she works with Dr. Julie Strychowsky on climate change initiatives, including surgical tray optimization projects aimed at reducing the carbon footprint and improving operating room efficiency. Alina is committed to integrating these priorities into her future research and clinical work.
Talk Title: Sustainable Scopes: Tap Water as a Cost-Effective, Eco-Friendly Alternative in Endoscopy
Bio: Dr. Hilalion (San) Ahn is a colorectal surgery fellow and is pursuing his Master of Science in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the University of Toronto. He completed his residency training in general surgery at the University of Ottawa. His aim is to advance workflow efficiencies while improving healthcare sustainability.
Talk Title: Nitrous Oxide Waste Reduction
Bio: Susan works in the Division of Long Term Care in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Sunnybrook. She is deeply concerned about the changes we have been and will be experiencing as a result of climate change, particularly the impact on human health. As the health care sector is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and waste, Susan feels strongly that we must act to reduce our contribution. She has just completed her Master of Public Health, with a focus on the impact of climate change on human health, and is a co-chair for the Green Task Force at Sunnybrook Hospital.
Talk Title: Biodegradable PPE – Why Greener Isn’t Always Better
Bio: Mike Apostol is a dedicated champion for sustainability in Canada’s healthcare sector. He draws on his expertise to boost energy efficiency through optimized HVAC systems, lighting, and steam production. Equally attuned to the outsized environmental toll of healthcare supply chains, Mike guides hospitals toward smarter, greener procurement practices that can deliver lasting impact.
Moderator
Bio: Dr. Anita Rao has been the lead of Ontario’s Anesthesiologists Environmental Sustainability Working Group since its initiation in 2022. Through this working group, their members collaborate with the Canadian Anesthesia Society, CASCADES, the Canadian Coalition of Green Health Care, Choosing Wisely, ON-SQIN and other groups whose focus is to reduce the environmental impact of surgical services.
Dr. Rao is also the Physician Lead of Environmental Sustainability for Trillium Health Partners where she initiate and guide implementations to decrease waste and carbon emissions associated with the delivery of clinical care.
Dr. Rao started her career as a family physician, which she practiced for 10 years. She then re-trained in anesthesiology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Rao’s practice includes the teaching and supervising of medical students and residents.