A pilot course on climate and health for students and faculty in the health professions.
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2026-01
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Abstract
Purpose
Managing the health impacts of climate change will require the coordinated expertise of all health professions. Therefore, trainees and practitioners need to learn about climate change and its health impacts in an interprofessional setting. Accordingly, faculty members and students representing different health and climate sciences at Duke University created an interprofessional pilot course for students and faculty in the health professions.Methods
In addition to teaching fundamental concepts regarding the science of climate change and downstream health consequences, a solutions-based approach was utilized to highlight how individuals and healthcare systems can address climate change. The course format included asynchronous virtual modules and in-person service-learning opportunities to engage learners directly in community-based climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.Results
A validated pre- and post-course survey called CHANT assessed health professional learners' awareness, motivations, and behaviors related to climate change and health. Learners were already aware of climate change, but only around 60% reported being at least somewhat familiar with the contribution of the U.S. healthcare system to greenhouse gas emissions. Although over 90% of learners already embraced climate-protective behaviors and conversations at home, almost 40% of learners reported never or rarely engaging in these same behaviors and discussions in the workplace. Learners provided overall positive feedback regarding satisfaction with course load, pace, and resources. Students reported interest in more in-person activities, climate justice and advocacy opportunities, and information on healthcare sustainability and preparedness.Conclusion
In response to the feedback received from learners, an online course has been developed using the pilot course materials to increase accessibility to all learners in healthcare, including practicing healthcare workers and administrators from diverse professional disciplines.Type
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Dalapati, Trisha, Jennifer M Lawson, John H Lohnes, Allyson S Sutkowi-Hemstreet, Perri A Morgan, Denise M Nepveux, Valerie K Sabol, Andrew J Muzyk, et al. (2026). A pilot course on climate and health for students and faculty in the health professions. Frontiers in public health, 14. p. 1714680. 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1714680 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/34694.
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Scholars@Duke
Jennifer Mah Lawson
Physician provides primary care services only. Interests include medical humanities, climate change and health, integrative medicine, transdisciplinary collaboration, underserved communities. Member of inaugural group of Climate Change Faculty Fellows, 2022
Perri Anne Morgan
Dr. Morgan is a health services researcher focusing on PAs and NPs in the health workforce and on outcomes associated with their use in different roles and settings. As Director of Research in the Duke PA Division, she led the development of the PA Research section, which is one of only a few such groups nationally. As a practicing PA for 25 years, Dr. Morgan has extensive knowledge of the PA profession from the perspective of a clinician. As one of a very few national experts on education, practice, and workforce issues related to the PA profession, Dr. Morgan is regularly invited to serve in national and state level policy advisory positions. Her research, linked below, addresses methodological problems of data sources for use in research on PAs and NPs, the effect of PA use on health resource utilization, and use and roles of PAs and NPs in various settings.
Denise Marie Nepveux
2023-2024 Duke Climate and Sustainability Teaching Fellow
I am a qualitative researcher whose methods are informed by disability studies, critical ethnographic traditions and women's studies. Through community-based participatory research, I have collaborated in building knowledge with groups that are multiply marginalized, for example Ghanaian women with disabilities, low-income urban-dwelling older adults and LGBTQ+ youth with intellectual disabilities.
I am especially interested in community organizing. I focus on questions of how specific policies and practices impact people, what motivates people to join in collective struggles, what aids and hinders their working together, what participants learn through collective effort, and how their perceptions of themselves and their context are transformed by the experience.
I am also interested in performing arts as activism and as ways to translate knowledge to new audiences.
I welcome inquiries to collaborate on research and creative projects.
Valerie K. Sabol
Valerie K. Sabol, PhD, MBA, ACNP-BC, GNP-BC, CHSE, CNE, ANEF, FAANP, FAAN is a Clinical Professor at the Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON) and the inaugural Director of Planetary Health, Office of Global and Community Health Initiatives. Planetary health is an interdisciplinary field that studies the interconnection between the health of the environment and the health of people, and seeks comprehensive, equity-focused solutions to address the impact of human disruption on Earth’s natural systems.
Dr. Sabol has served on several Duke committees focused on climate and sustainability initiatives. As the Duke Climate Commitment Education Subcommittee Co-Chair, she will help each of Duke’s ten schools integrate Duke’s Climate and Sustainability Fluency Framework into their own curricular programming and extracurricular activities. In partnership with the School of Medicine, Dr. Sabol also co-leads the interprofessional course, "Moral Movements in Medicine," and one of the course’s sections, ‘Health as an Ecosystem’. Selected for the 2024 cohort of the Environmental Health Research Institute for Nurse and Clinician Scientists (EHRI-NCS), she participates in a research mentorship program funded by the NIH/NIEHS. Her research focuses on how social drivers of health, such as nutrition, physical activity, and climate change like extreme heat, impact the physical and mental health of our aging population.
Before serving in this inaugural role, Dr. Sabol served as Interim Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, was Chair for the Healthcare in Adult Populations Division, Program Director of the Accelerated BSN (ABSN) Program, and the Director of the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner major in the MSN Program. Prior to working at Duke, Dr. Sabol was faculty at the University of Maryland School of Nursing for 11 years and directed the Adult Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist Program.
As a dual, board-certified Adult Acute Care and Gerontology Nurse Practitioner and currently provides care to older Veterans at the Durham VA's Perioperative Optimization of Senior Health (POSH) clinic. She has provided clinical care as a nurse practitioner at Duke University Medical Center with the Endocrinology Inpatient Consultation Service, the Duke COVID-19 Monoclonal Infusion Clinic, and the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the Durham VA using telehealth.
Dr. Sabol is a past-President of the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association (GAPNA) and served on the North Carolina Great 100 Nurses Board of Directors as Treasurer. She is a former column editor for AACN Advanced Critical Care and Geriatric Nursing, and currently serves on editorial boards and as a reviewer for critical care, geriatric, and obesity-focused journals.
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