Description:
In this episode, guest hosted by Grace Kistner, we hear from Lucas Gardim and Ongelique Conflenti as they share how their work in innovation, research, and practice is helping nurses step into climate leadership and connect patient care with broader system change
Guest Host:
Grace Kistner, RN, DTN, MMHA, BSBA, BSN, CCRN, CSSLHPM
Grace Kistner is a board-certified Critical Care Registered Nurse with extensive experience in health care and promotion since 2007. Her passion for global health, sustainability, advocacy, justice, and empowerment drive her approach to Health-In-All-Policy. As a highly driven thought leader and innovator, she advances solutions that serve diverse populations while elevating the nursing profession worldwide. She is cross-sector credentialed, multi-degree awarded, and educated across four continents. Her leadership has facilitated international clinic teams, bilateral learning exchanges, strengthened advocacy efforts with United Nations–affiliated organizations, and informed pivotal policy reforms. She serves on multiple Boards, leadership councils, and advisory panels, providing strategic insights and mentoring the next generation of health leaders.
Lucas Gardim, PhD(s), MSc, RN
Lucas Gardim is a nurse whose academic and professional journey has been built across some of the world’s leading centers of excellence. He earned his Bachelor of Nursing degree from the Ribeirão Preto College of Nursing at the University of São Paulo (EERP/USP), a PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing Research Development. He holds a Master of Science degree from EERP/USP, with international training at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oulu, Finland, and served as an International Visiting Scholar at the University of Alberta, further solidifying his dedication to research in nursing innovation aimed at transforming health systems. He is currently a PhD student at the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta, ranked as the top nursing program in Western Canada. In the United States, he held the inaugural position of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Trainee and was later appointed Innovation Lead at SONSIEL: Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs & Leaders. He currently serves as Global Director of Nursing Innovation at SONSIEL, co-leading NurseHack4Health™ (NH4H) — the world’s largest nursing innovation program, led by SONSIEL in partnership with Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft — which mobilizes nurses globally to develop and implement transformative solutions to contemporary healthcare challenges. Lucas is also the Founder, Board Member, and Former President of Humane Inovação em Saúde, a student-led initiative dedicated to developing innovation competencies among healthcare students. Internationally recognized, he has been honored with the Emerging Leader in the Americas Award (Government of Canada) and the Health Innovation Excellence Award from the TechNurses Africa Foundation.
Ongelique Conflenti, MSc, RN
Ongelique Conflenti is a nurse leader and climate and health advocate dedicated to empowering nurses as change agents for climate action. She currently serves as the Program Coordinator for the Health Screening Van at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, where she leads a mobile lung cancer screening initiative focused on advancing early detection, health equity, and community-based care. Ongelique began her nursing career at UCLA Health on a cardiothoracic surgery step-down unit, where she cared for lung cancer patients pre- and post-operatively. Witnessing firsthand the health impacts of environmental exposures deepened her commitment to prevention and to addressing the upstream drivers of disease — including climate change.
She holds a Master of Science in Advanced Nursing with a focus on leadership and global health. Her master’s dissertation explored nurses’ attitudes toward climate change and its relationship to their nursing practice, education, and professional development. Ongelique has presented at national and international conferences and delivered keynote addresses focused on equipping and empowering nurses to lead climate action within healthcare systems and policy spaces. She has been actively involved with the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments since 2023 and has been a member of SONSIEL since 2024, engaging in global dialogue at the intersection of nursing, innovation, and sustainable development. She serves on the Board of Directors for Timmy Global Health and co-facilitates the Nurse Policy Entrepreneur Café, a global community advancing nurse leadership in health policy and innovation. Across her clinical practice, research, and advocacy, Ongelique is passionate about advancing climate action, fostering innovation, and strengthening health systems — ensuring nurses are recognized not only as frontline responders to climate-related health impacts, but as essential leaders shaping a healthier, more sustainable future. ORCID
About the Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast
2026 marks the 9th 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.
