Collegium Helveticum
Switzerland
fellow
Nils Hohmuth
2025-2026
Discipline(s)
Health Sciences
Theme(s)
Environment, Sustainability & Biodiversity; Health
Fellowship dates
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Biography
Nils Hohmuth is a medical doctor and planetary health researcher. He studies how the health of humans and nature are interdependent—and how to protect both in a changing climate. His work connects public health, ecology, and data science to develop practical ways to prevent harm and support adaptation.
After studying medicine and health economics, Nils worked as a doctor and coordinated large-scale citizen science projects in Germany. As Head of Planetary Health at a non-profit, he co-developed methods to measure human heat stress. Since 2024, he has co-led the Nature’s Impact team at ETH Zurich, focusing on how environmental change affects human health and societal resilience.
In 2025, he was awarded an early career fellowship at the Collegium to estimate how deforestation increases heat-related mortality using climate models. He also works on early warning systems for climate-sensitive diseases in Colombia. As a member of the Planetary Health curriculum taskforce at the University of Zurich, he helps empower future doctors to protect both people and the planet.
An optimist at heart, Nils believes in positive change—fostered across disciplines, borders, and generations.
Research Project
Temperature-Related Mortality of Global Deforestation
How might global forests help protect people from the rising threat of heat-related deaths driven by climate change? This project investigates that question by combining insights from climate science, health research, and geospatial data.
Nils Hohmuth uses in this project Earth System Model (ESM) simulations to estimate how deforestation and afforestation—large-scale forest loss or gain—could change temperatures around the world. These temperature changes are then combined with data on where people live and how heat affects human health, in order to estimate how many additional deaths could result from forest loss—or how many might be prevented through forest protection. Finally, the project will produce a global map showing where forests most strongly reduce temperature-related mortality, helping countries better understand the human cost of deforestation and make more informed policy decisions.
Research Interests:
climate science; forest ecology; deforestation; afforestation; heat-related mortality; public health; climate change; Earth System Modelling; geospatial analysis; temperature regulation; environmental health; epidemiology; global health; climate policy.