Dr. AnnMarie Walton
Dr. Walton is a tenure-track Associate Professor at the Duke University School of Nursing where she teaches and facilitates two core courses, Population Health in a Global Society and Transforming the Nation’s Health, to nursing graduate students. She conducts research to understand and minimize occupational exposure to known carcinogens. Dr. Walton is affiliated with the Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health Program at the Nicholas School of the Environment. Dr. Walton also serves as the faculty liaison between the Duke University School of Nursing and the Nurses Climate Challenge. Dr. Walton has been honored as the 2016 Oncology Nursing Society Health Policy and Advocacy Award winner for her work on state-based legislation to protect healthcare workers from exposure to hazardous drugs. She was also named a Breakthrough Leader in Nursing by the Future of Nursing Campaign for Action. Dr. Walton was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2020.
Dr. Valerie K. Sabol
Valerie K. Sabol, PhD, MBA, ACNP, GNP, CNE, ANEF, FAANP, FAAN is a Clinical Professor at Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) and is certified as both an acute care and gerontology nurse practitioner. Her scholarship and teaching focus on how nutrition, activity, and climate change influence physical and mental health among our aging population. She teaches a variety of prelicensure and graduate nursing classes at DUSON to include an elective she developed entitled Obesity Across the Lifespan: Fundamentals for Health Care Providers. In partnership with the Duke School of Medicine, Dr. Sabol co-leads a year-long, interprofessional humanities-focused course called Moral Movements in Medicine (co-leading one of the seminar sections, Health as an Ecosystem) and has been involved in several Duke campus committees focused on climate change and sustainability. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland (geriatric-focused nursing), an M.S.N (acute care nurse practitioner) from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.S. (nursing) from the Pennsylvania State University.
Co-hosts of the EHRI-CNS Series:
Dr. Heide Cygan
Dr. Heide Cygan, DNP, RN, PHNA-BC is an Associate Professor at the Rush University College of Nursing, in the Department of Community, Systems and Mental Health where she teaches public health nursing to graduate and doctoral students. She earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from the University of Michigan and her Doctor of Nursing Practice in Advanced Public Health Nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Dr. Cygan is a board certified advanced public health nurse. As a public health nurse, a main tenant of Dr. Cygan’s practice is understanding the reciprocal relationship between humans and their environment. Much of Dr. Cygan’s current scholarship is dedicated to advancing planetary health through nurses and other health professionals. She specifically focuses on innovative teaching strategies that develop nursing students as planetary health leaders.
Dr. Heidi Honegger Rogers
Heidi Honegger Rogers, DNP, FNP C, APHN BC, FNAP is a clinician educator – associate professor at the University of New Mexico (UNM) College of Nursing. She is the Director of Interprofessional Education for the UNM Health Sciences Center. Her advocacy and scholarship centers in climate change and health, equity and justice, nature connection, wellbeing, and planetary health. She leads the Planetary Health Task Force for the American Holistic Nurses Association, and she works with Nurses for Planetary Health, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, the Global Consortium for Climate Change and Health Education Nurses Working Group, and the Planetary Health Alliance. She is a facilitator with the Work That Reconnects and a certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide. She is dedicated to bringing a Planetary Health Lens into our work as nurses and health professionals. Pronoun preferences: she/her/hers.
About the Focus on EHRI-NCS Series
The NIEHS funded EHRI-NCS grant (PI Jessica Castner, PhD, RN, FAAN) offers research, educational, and career-building opportunities for nurse environmental health scientists. In this series, two participants, Dr. Heide Cygan and Dr. Heidi Honegger Rogers interview other fellows about their studies and experiences. Join us for a fascinating journey of ideas!
About the Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast
Since 2017, Beth and other hosts have interviewed dozens of nurses across the globe, all of whom are working at the intersection of health and environment. The goals of the podcast are to spread the word about the fabulous work of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments – so we’re glad you found us! And, to highlight and share the amazing and leading work nurses around the world are doing to help protect our natural world in order to support health and healing.
Again and again, nurses are spearheading social change, climate action, environmental justice, and improving health for vulnerable populations, while using their valuable clinical skills, teaching, and caring. Nurses’ work can seem overlooked or taken for granted, and we are here to tell their important stories. We hope you enjoy meeting the nurses in the Nurses for Healthy Environments podcast!
Beth Schenk, Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast Host
Elizabeth Schenk, PhD, RN, FAAN, is a leader of environmental stewardship in healthcare, where she has been working to reduce
pollution from healthcare for 3 decades. Schenk is a former board member of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, and serves on the boards of Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate and Climate Smart Missoula.
