BSMS > About BSMS > Contact us > Staff > Dr Amy Booth

Dr Amy Booth

Dr Amy Booth (MBChB (UCT), DPhil (Oxon))

Research Fellow in Sustainable Medicines
E: a.booth@bsms.ac.uk

Area of expertise: Sustainability Health Care; Pharmaceutical Supply Chains; Planetary Health; Health Systems and Climate Resilience; Antimicrobial Resistance and Pharmaceutical Pollution; Environmental Policy and Regulation in Health and Corporate Sectors; Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG); Research Translation and Policy Engagement

Research areas: Sustainable Medicines Management; Corporate Climate Action and Net Zero in Pharmaceutical Supply Chains; Environmental and Socio-economic Drivers of Antimicrobial Resistance; Renewable Energy Transitions in Health Care; Policy and Governance Frameworks for Sustainability; Intersections of Health, Environmental Science, and Social Science in Sustainability Research

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Biography

Dr Amy Booth is a medical doctor and interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of health, environmental crises, and sustainability. She completed her DPhil at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, exploring pharmaceutical companies’ climate action and pathways to net zero. Prior to this, she graduated summa cum laude with an MBChB from the University of Cape Town and worked as a medical doctor in South Africa. This clinical experience exposed her to both the health impacts of environmental crises and the environmental impact of health care, inspiring her transition into sustainable health research.

Amy’s research has been published in journals including The Lancet Planetary Health, BMJ Leader and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. She is co-authoring a forthcoming book on sustainable health care and has presented her work internationally, including invited talks at the UK House of Commons, the European Society for Medical Oncology, and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, as well as appearances on the BBC and various podcasts. She co-leads the MSc in Translational Health Sciences module on Sustainable Health Care at Oxford and will focus her research at BSMS on reducing the environmental impact of medicines.

Alongside this, Amy has advised the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and health projects across sub-Saharan Africa. She is an inaugural member of the UK Young Academy, an Academy of Medical Sciences Emerging Research Leader in Climate and Health, and an ERASMUS+ PlanEd Prescribing Associate Partner.

Research

Amy’s research explores how health systems, particularly pharmaceutical supply chains, can move towards environmental sustainability. Her DPhil research employed discourse analysis to understand narratives on pharmaceutical companies’ climate action. She has also published research on carbon footprint modelling of health systems, the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals, reviews of various sustainable health care topics (including telemedicine and medical devices), and the links between WASH, pharmaceutical pollution, and antimicrobial resistance. Her research combines health, environmental science, business, and social science perspectives. Additionally, she has led and contributed to research projects with international organisations including the WHO and UN and contributes to policy initiatives through her work with the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the EU Erasmus+ consortium on planetary health in prescribing.

Her current research interests include mapping and understanding the environmental impact of medicines management and investigating interventions to drive sustainable medicines management and use. Her work contributes to a nation-wide Green Healthcare Hub on decarbonising health and social care.

BACKGROUND IMAGE FOR PANEL

Teaching

Amy has teaching experience across clinical medicine, environment and sustainability, and wider climate policy and practice. At the University of Oxford, she co-leads the MSc in Translational Health Sciences module on Sustainable Health Care, where she designs and delivers teaching for mid-career professionals on health systems, environmental crises, and sustainability transitions. She has previously also contributed to the MSc in Sustainability, Enterprise and the Environment, teaching on topics such as climate science, climate finance and law, natural capital, environmental policy, and ESG frameworks. While working as a clinician, she engaged in medical student teaching on a variety of medical topics. She has also organised educational workshops and facilitated stakeholder engagement events that connect students, academics, policymakers, and industry professionals. She provides mentorship and supervision for postgraduate students, supporting the development of interdisciplinary research skills and helping students translate academic work into policy and practice.

Selected publications

Booth, A. Breen, L. Wieringa, S. Shaw, S. Planetary health leadership to drive climate action across pharmaceutical supply chains: insights from qualitative research and a call to action. BMJ Leader. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/leader-2025-001253

Piet, J. Booth, A., Donker, E.M., de Ponti, F., Lunghi, C., et.al. Environmentally sustainable prescribing: recommendations for EU pharmaceutical legislation. The Lancet Planetary Health. 2024. DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00230-4

Booth, A., Shaw, S.E. Addressing the Environmental Impact of Pharmaceuticals: A Call to Action. British Journal of Hospital Medicine 2025 86:1, 1-8

Booth, A.; Jager, A.; Faulkner, S.D.; Winchester, C.C.; Shaw, S.E. Pharmaceutical Company Targets and Strategies to Address Climate Change: Content Analysis of Public Reports from 20 Pharmaceutical Companies. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 3206.

Booth, A. Carbon footprint modelling of national health systems: Opportunities, challenges and recommendations. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management. 2022; 1-9.

Booth, A., Wester, A. A Multivariate analysis of the contribution of socioeconomic and environmental factors to blood culture E. coli resistant to fluoroquinolones in high-and middle-income countries. BMC Public Health. 2022.

Booth, A., Wester, A., Aga, D. Retrospective analysis of the global antibiotic residues that exceed the predicted no effect concentration for antimicrobial resistance in various environmental matrices. Environmental International. 2020. 141;105796.

Pickard Strange M, Booth A, Akiki M, Wieringa S, Shaw SE. The Role of Virtual Consulting in Developing Environmentally Sustainable Health Care: Systematic Literature Review. J Med Internet Res 2023;25:e44823. doi: 10.2196/44823

Booth, A., Omed R.A., Naidoo, M. Analysis of a SARS-CoV-2 daily screening programme for healthcare workers at a district hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, a quality improvement initiative. African Journal of Primary Health Care Family Medicine. 2020. 12(1).

Krige JEJ, Jonas E, Beningfield SJ, Booth A, Kotze UK, Bernon M, Burmeister S. Resection of benign liver tumours: an analysis of 62 consecutive cases treated in an academic referral centre. S Afr J Surg. 2017 Sep;55(3):27-34. PMID: 28876562.