Rate My Professor Connie Gan

Dr. Connie Cai Ru Gan is a Lecturer in Planetary Health at Griffith University’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, where she contributes to the Centre for Environment and Population Health. Her doctoral research, culminating in a PhD in Public Health from Griffith University in 2020, centered on future-proofing hospitals against disasters in a changing climate, employing an action research approach. She holds a Master of Public Health from National Taiwan University (2014) and a Bachelor of Public Health from Tzu Chi University (2009). Earlier, she served as a researcher at National Taiwan University from 2012 to 2014, building expertise in public health and environmental issues.

Gan’s research specializations include planetary health, climate and disaster resilience, health emergencies, disaster risk reduction, climate-smart healthcare, and health-promoting hospitals. She co-leads initiatives on climate and disaster resilience and explores topics such as healthcare emissions reduction, mental resilience in disasters, gender in climate-health vulnerabilities, and adaptation strategies in Southeast Asia. Her prolific scholarship features over 30 publications, with 482 citations on Google Scholar. Key works encompass “Acrylic window as physical barrier for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) conservation” (2020, cited 20 times), “A scoping review of climate-related disasters in China, Indonesia and Vietnam: Disasters, health impacts, vulnerable populations and adaptation measures” (2021), “More than a public health crisis: A feminist political economic analysis of COVID-19” (2021), “Exploring context-specific perspectives: a qualitative study on building climate resilience health-care facilities in southeast Asia” (2024), “What keeps women safe from violence during shocks? Review of risk and protective factors in the Indo-Pacific Region” (2026), and “Mapping Climate–Health Vulnerabilities in Indonesian Coastal Cities Using Socio-Economic and Satellite Data” (2026). Gan engages in networks like the Indo-Pacific Disaster Resilience Network and collaborates with the Griffith Asia Institute on violence prevention and climate policy. Her contributions during COVID-19 included innovations for PPE conservation and gendered pandemic analyses.