Description:
In this episode, guest host Dr. Heidi Honegger Rogers sits down with Dr. Cristina Watkins, a family nurse practitioner and public health advocate, to explore how climate change is deepening the crisis of water insecurity for families. Drawing from her doctoral research, Dr. Watkins examines how limited access to clean, safe water impacts the health of pregnant and nursing mothers, infants, and other vulnerable populations—and what policy solutions can make a difference. Together, they discuss the role of programs like WIC in supporting equitable access to water and infant feeding, and how nurses can lead the way in advancing climate resilience and health equity.
Cristina Watkins
Cristina Watkins is a board-certified family nurse practitioner (FNP-BC) with over 15 years of experience in a variety of medical specialties from pediatrics to vascular neurology, to currently working in telemedicine practicing family and urgent care medicine. After finishing her undergraduate degrees in molecular cell biology and public health at UC Berkeley, she went on to earn her MSN degree from Samuel Merritt University. The Covid pandemic reawakened her passion for public health and health promotion driving her to enroll in the DNP/MPH program at Johns Hopkins University. There she focused on climate change and its effects on health especially among vulnerable groups. Her DNP project looked at climate change’s effects on water security with the understanding that access to clean water is vital for health especially amoung the most vulnerable, pregnant or nursing moms and their babies.
Outside of healthcare, Cristina is always up for an adventure, whether it’s trying a new craft like making stained glass or sailing around the Caribbean with her family.
Guest Host:
Heidi Honegger Rogers, DNP, FNP C, APHN BC, FNAP
Dr. Honegger Rogers 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.
Resources:
ANHE Policy and Advocacy Committee: https://envirn.org/policy-advocacy/ –The ANHE Policy and Advocacy Committee discusses current policy issues and the critical role nurses play as advocates for public health. With the current shift in priorities at the federal level, our committee has shifted its focus to local and state policies that affect the environment and our health. Some of our most recent collaborations have been with Beyond Plastics and Clean Water Action.
Water is life: changing the tide on family water insecurity
Reports on Water Insecurity in the US: https://www.digdeep.org/draining/
About the Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast
2025 marks the 8th season of the Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast. Since 2017, Beth and other hosts have interviewed dozens nurses across the globe, all of whom are working at the intersection of health and environment. The goals of the podcast are 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, and to spread the word about the fabulous work of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. We’re glad you found us!
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.
