At the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med), alumni continue to shape the future of health care long after graduation. Before pursuing pediatrics, Debra Hendrickson, ‘04 M.D., spent a decade working as an environmental analyst and planner, primarily in river and watershed management. Though some saw her transition to medicine as a sharp career pivot, she found a deep connection between the two disciplines.  

“Early on, I realized how much overlap there was in the science of both fields,” she said. “Our bodies are integrated with the Earth, and many of the same structures and processes we see in nature are reflected within us.” 

Dr. Hendrickson earned her medical degree from the University of Nevada, Reno, where she was a member of a small, close-knit class and benefited from dedicated faculty. She completed her pediatrics residency at UC Davis, commuting nearly 90,000 miles over three years to also be with her children in Reno. For nearly two decades, she served as a clinical professor of pediatrics at the UNR Med, where she lectured on how early childhood experiences, such as poverty and trauma, shape long-term health. 

Hendrickson’s environmental and medical paths merged during a moment she will never forget. During the 2013 Yosemite Rim Fire — the first California “megafire” to impact Reno’s air quality — a mother brought her 10-month-old daughter into the clinic. She struggled to breathe in the thick smoke engulfing the city.  

“As I listened to her chest, she looked up at me with these big brown eyes,” she recalled. “Her mother said, ‘Isn’t it funny how you never think about breathing, until you can’t.’” 

Reno would soon be named the fastest-warming city in the United States, and one of the cities most impacted by worsening air pollution due to climate change. Hendrickson would go on to see many more of her patients sickened by smoke, smog and heat. 

Those encounters–along with children she met from across the country who had been harmed by heat waves, hurricanes, and outbreaks of mosquito-borne illness inspired her book, "The Air They Breathe: A Pediatrician on the Frontlines of Climate Change" (Simon & Schuster, 2024). The book examines how the environment shapes children’s health from the microscopic level to the planetary scale. She explains that infants and children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental harm because of their different physiology and smaller size, and because their bodies and minds develop through interaction with the surrounding world. 

“For example, we know that children raised in areas with poor air quality are more likely to have smaller, stiffer lungs as adults,” she said. “Brain development, too, is significantly affected, with children from these neighborhoods having higher rates of cognitive problems and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.” 

Her experience has led her to advocate for medical education that addresses the health impacts of fossil fuels and climate change. 

“Many medical schools have adopted a climate curriculum,” she said. “Students are learning how worsening air quality, heat waves, droughts and infectious diseases affect patients — and how actions like closing coal plants or planting trees can immediately improve health.” 

Hendrickson also believes that the shift must go deeper than new coursework. “The human body evolved in a certain set of conditions that are now rapidly changing,” she said. “Every time we take a breath or drink water, we’re pulling the atmosphere into our bodies. Yet we dump billions of tons of pollution into the sky every year.” 

She notes that no specialty is immune from climate disruptions, pointing to disasters that have affected hospitals and the health care system.

“Clean energy is a vital public health intervention that every doctor should support,” she said. “Health care itself contributes about 8.5% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. We have to start at home — in our hospitals and clinics.” 

Despite the urgency, Hendrickson remains hopeful. “My strongest hope is that parents, policymakers and physicians will fight for clean energy and an end to fossil fuel pollution,” she said. “Even if it weren’t causing climate change, it kills an estimated nine million people globally a year.” 

Her life’s work reflects the heart of medicine itself: to heal, to protect and to ensure a healthier future for patients and for the planet they call home. 

In recognition of her dedication to improving both human and environmental health, Hendrickson was named the 2025 School of Medicine Distinguished Alumna and honored at the Nevada Alumni Association Awards Gala in October. Now retired, she devotes her time to climate advocacy, writing and enjoying the outdoors with her three children, daughter-in-law and beautiful new granddaughter. "I’m so grateful to the people from the University of Nevada who supported me in the most difficult times,” Hendrickson said. “It means a lot that they would think of me for this honor — but even more that they would bring attention to this urgent issue, which will affect the future of every child.”