Dr. Melissa Lem is a Vancouver family physician and President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. She has engaged in advocacy and policy work on a broad range of issues, from climate change and hydraulic fracturing to sustainable health care, low-carbon
transportation and nature-based solutions.
A widely published writer, her work has appeared in media including the CBC, Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, The Narwhal and National Observer. As a climate change panellist on CBC Radio's Early Edition, in-house medical columnist for CBC TV Vancouver and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, one of her major priorities is knowledge translation.
Dr. Lem was the inaugural winner of University College’s Young Alumni of Influence Award at the University of Toronto, a 2021 World Parks Week Ambassador, recipient of the 2022 Adult Nature Inspiration Award from the Canadian Museum of Nature, and sits on the Advisory Committee of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Health and Well-being Specialist Group.