Hear Dr. Winters talk about her fascinating career in nursing research, education, and administration
Charlene Winters, PhD, RN is professor at Montana State University College of Nursing. Dr. Winters has been a leading researcher in asbestos-related illness, particularly in the context of an EPA Superfund site in Libby, Montana. Her research over two decades reflects her commitment to the health of rural communities. She has studied the psychosocial health status of members of this very impacted community, and also studied how people responded to being participants in research, especially in a heavily researched community as superfund sites can be. Hear Dr. Winters talk about her fascinating career in nursing research, education, and administration.
Professor of Nursing at Montana State University, Dr. Charlie Winters has a long career trajectory of rural and environmental health nursing research. She has authored dozens of manuscripts, book chapters and proceedings. She has led teams of researchers in Community Based Participatory Research methods, studying the impacts of environmental health challenges on communities and individuals. Dr. Winters has led several innovative educational programs at Montana State University and has consistently included graduate students in her environmental health research studies. She served as President of the Western Institute of Nursing from 2016-2018, co-leading Environmental Health and Nursing: Communicating Nursing Research, for the past three years.
About your host, Beth Schenk
Elizabeth Schenk, PhD, MHI, RN-BC is Providence-WSU Nurse Scientist and Sustainability Coordinator at Providence St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Montana. In addition, she is assistant research professor in Nursing at Washington State University in Spokane. Dr. Schenk co-leads nursing research efforts at St. Pat’s, and also across Providence St. Joseph Health, working with nursing leaders at 50 hospitals.
In addition, Dr. Schenk leads efforts for environmental stewardship at St. Patrick, and has worked with ministries across the system to reduce environmental impacts for the past 10 years. She co-leads ACES (Action Collaborative for Environmental Stewardship) across Providence St. Joseph. In her academic work, she developed the “Nurses Environmental Awareness Tool” which has been used in multiple states and several countries to assess awareness of the environmental impacts of hospital-based healthcare. Dr. Schenk serves on the national board of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, and several local boards.
In her free time, she loves her family, pets, garden, hockey, aikido and music.
