• The readiness of the nation to predict and avoid public and occupational health problems caused by heat waves and severe
storms • Characterization and quantification of relationships between climate variability, health outcomes, and the main determinants of vulnerability within and between populations • Development of reliable methods to connect climate - related changes in food
systems and water supplies to health under different conditions • Prediction of future risks in response to climate change scenarios and of reductions in the baseline level of morbidity, mortality, or vulnerability • Identification of the available resources, limitations of, and potential actions by the current U.S. health care
system to prevent, prepare for, and respond to climate - related health hazards and to build adaptive
capacity among vulnerable segments of the U.S. population