Board of Directors
Nelson Tuazon
Nelson Tuazon, DNP, DBA, RN, NEA-BC, CENP, CPPS, CPHQ, CPXP, FNAP, FACHE, FAAN has a successful track record in nursing practice, academia, and executive leadership. Dr. Tuazon’s involvement in professional associations and boards has influenced nursing practice, nursing education, and public policy. He was the inaugural Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of the Philippine Nurses Association of America (now the Journal of Nursing Practice Applications and Reviews of Research). He serves as a peer reviewer of the Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice. As founder of the San Antonio Nursing Consortium and Board Member of the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce, he actively participates in public awareness campaigns, including the Stop-the-Bleed Program and humanitarian projects related to climate change in the Philippines. He serves as adjunct faculty at Excelsior University and UT Health San Antonio. His interests in the Environmental Health Nurse Fellowship focus on integrating environmental health and environmental justice into nursing practice, curriculum, public education, and health policy. Dr Tuazon is also Vice President & Associate Chief Nursing Officer at University Health in San Antonio, Texas.
Teddie Potter
Teddie M. Potter, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP is deeply committed to climate change and planetary health education. Dr. Potter is the inaugural director of the Center for Planetary Health and Environmental Justice at the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota and a Fellow in the Institute on the Environment at the University. She is a member of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments and the American Academy of Nursing Environment and Public Health Expert Panel. She is a member of the Coordinating Committee of Columbia University’s Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, and the Steering Committee of the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA). She also chairs Clinicians for Planetary Health (C4PH) for the PHA. She serves on the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the US Health Sector; the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM); and the Climate Crossroads committee of NASEM. Her most recent work is founding with the International Council of Nurses, Nursing for Planetary Health, a global nursing movement.
Michael Irwin Collins
Michael Irwin Collins, RN is am originally from Kansas. After graduating high school in 1970 he spent seven years in the US Army as a Combat Field Medic. Following separation from the Army he pursued training for License Practical Nurse and then immediately an Associate Degree in Nursing. A year after becoming a profession nurse he relocated to Las Vegas NV in1984 where he resides to this day. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in nursing science from UNLV in 2004. He retired from the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in 2020 after thirty-three years. While employed at UMCSN he joined Service Employees International Union in1989 while working with people living with HIV Disease and in the 1990’s became a community activist fighting to support and protect his HIV patients. From 2000 to 2003 he worked at the UNLV Student Health Center. He returned to hospital care in 2003 until my retirement he worked as charge nurse on a renal transplant unit. At the same time became increasing his activism with SEIU Local 1107 and eventually joining the local’s executive board. During the Obama administration the international union established the SEIU Nurse Alliance which he joined and advocated for several national healthcare priorities facing nurse professionals. One of the SEIU Nurse Alliance priority during my tenor was the protection of the Affordable Care Act. In 2017 he was arrested at the US Hart Office Building while advocating against attempts to get rid of the ACA.
The SEIU Nurse Alliance collaborated with numerous organizations including the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. He participated in collaborative trainings and opportunities to lobby for climate justice. In 2019 while advocating for climate justice he was arrested one more time at the US Senate Hart Office Building during a Fire Drill Friday’s action.
In February of 2023 he participated in visits to congressional offices to encourage congressional support of OSHA regulation with the. Climate Action Champaign. In May of 2024 it was his honor to be the recipient of the Charlotte Brody Award at the 2024 Clean Med Conference. Given the threats to the health of our planet posed by those currently in power he is looking forward to addressing those challenges with the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments.
Bruce Adelson
Bruce L. Adelson, Esq., is CEO of Federal Compliance Consulting LLC. He is a former U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) Senior Trial Attorney.
Bruce is an Instructor of Family Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Law at University of Pittsburgh School of Law where he teaches implicit bias in health care, civil rights, cultural awareness, and organizational culture. He has been a guest lecturer at Harvard, Cornell, and Auburn Universities, The Johns Hopkins University, University of Baltimore School of Law, and University of Michigan School of Law. He is the ADA and Title VI Consultant to the Idaho Supreme Court and the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts.
Bruce holds a BA in International Studies from The Johns Hopkins University and a JD from The University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is the author of 13 books, including the award-winning Brushing Back Jim Crow – The Integration of Minor League Baseball in the American South (University of Virginia Press).
Valerie K. Sabol
Valerie K. Sabol, PhD, MBA, ACNP-BC, GNP-BC, CHSE, CNE, ANEF, FAANP, FAAN is a clinical professor and the inaugural Director of Planetary Health at the Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON). With over 25 years of clinical experience, she is board-certified as both an Adult Acute Care and Gerontology Nurse Practitioner. A passionate advocate for climate and sustainability in healthcare, Dr. Sabol is at the forefront of integrating planetary health into nursing education, research, and practice. She serves as Duke University’s Education Co-Chair for Climate Change and Sustainability, leading efforts to integrate these concepts into curricula across all Duke Schools. She co-leads Moral Movements in Medicine, an interprofessional humanities course exploring ethics and social responsibility in healthcare. She is also the co-developer of a Coursera course called Climate Change and Health for Healthcare Professionals. Recognized for her leadership in this space, she was selected for the 2024 Environmental Health Research Institute for Nurse and Clinician Scientists (EHRI-NCS), an NIH-funded mentorship program advancing environmental health research in nursing. A past GAPNA President, her research and clinical interests focus on how climate change, nutrition, physical activity, and obesity impact aging, mobility, and mental health. She has worked across critical care, outpatient, and telehealth settings, and currently provides clinical care to our aging Veterans at the Durham VA Medical Center.
Doriam Camacho Rodriguez
Dr. Doriam Camacho, PhD, MBA, RN, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia. She led and represented ANHE Latin America before the Climate and Health Network of Latin America and the Caribbean. For 13 years, she has been working on incorporating environmental issues into the Nursing curriculum, a pioneering effort that has allowed her to participate in academic discussion spaces in various countries. Her research interests revolve around promoting children’s environmental health and the prevention of climate-sensitive diseases through citizen science and transdisciplinary research. In 2022, Dr. Camacho’s tireless efforts were recognized by the Sigma Theta Thau International Latin America and Caribbean Region. She was honored as one of the “100 Bold Nurses in Latin America and the Caribbean Promoting Excellence in Nursing” for her significant contributions to Nursing, Climate Change, and the Environment.
Kathy Murphy
Kathy Murphy received her nursing degree from St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing in Waterbury, Ct and her Associate Degree in Science from Mattatuck Community College, Her Bachelor’s Degree in Science from Southern Connecticut State University, Master’s Degree in Science in Nursing from the University of Hartford, and her Doctorate in Education from the University of Hartford. The topic for her doctoral thesis was the Confidence of New Nurse Graduates in the Application of Environmental Health in the Nursing Process.
Dr. Murphy has a vast experience in pediatric nursing, working in pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Waterbury Hospital, and St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, Ct, as well as a Public Health Nurse for the City of Waterbury. She has considerable experience in OB nursing having worked in the Family Birthing Center of Waterbury Hospital providing care to new families and teaching OB clinical experiences for several nursing programs in Connecticut, including Gateway Community College, Yale University and the University of Connecticut.
Dr. Murphy is the Director of the RN/ADN to BSN program at Charter Oak State College, with experience in higher education as Professor of Nursing at Naugatuck Valley Community College (NVCC) in the ADN program and faculty at the University of Hartford where she created and taught courses on environmental health and climate change.
Dr. Murphy has several publications on environmental health and climate change and has presented at many conferences on these topics. She is an active member of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, former co-chair of the Education Workgroup, a member of the Steering Committee and an editor of the second and third edition of the free online e-text Environmental Health in Nursing, with the work for the 4th edition underway. Dr. Murphy has several contributions to this text.