Finding Your Voice: Advocacy for Healthcare Professionals

CHE Fertility and Reproductive Health Working Group hosted this call to discuss strategies for health care professionals advocating for changes in policy that will protect patients from environmental risks. Dr. Ted Schettler described the unique role that healthcare professionals play in advocacy and the best use of existing scientific evidence. Dr. Maye Thompson presented effective approaches for working with advocacy groups and professional organizations. Brenda Afzal discussed advocacy in practice, examining barriers to progress and presenting success stories of clinicians in action. Resources for pursuing opportunities for advocacy were discussed throughout the call.

Featured Speakers

Ted Schettler, MD, MPH
Dr. Schettler is Science Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network and of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment. He is the science advisor to the Health Care Without Harm campaign and co-author of "Generations at Risk: Reproductive Health and the Environment", "In Harm's Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development" and "Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging". He has published a number of articles on related topics in peer-reviewed journals and has served on advisory committees of the US EPA and National Academy of Sciences.

Maye Thompson, RN, PhD
Dr. Thompson is the Environmental Health Program Director at Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. Her PhD is in nursing, with a focus on women's health and policy. She has been an environmental health advocate for 12 years, first as a volunteer, then with PSR. Her interest in Environmental Health was piqued early in her nursing career, working with farm workers in California's Central Valley.

Brenda Afzal, MS, RN
Ms. Afzal is the U. S. Climate Policy Coordinator for Health Care Without Harm and an environmental health nurse consultant engaged with initiatives on the local, state and federal level. Ms. Afzal’s extensive advocacy training includes the League of Conservation Voter’s Leadership (LCV) Environmental Leadership Institute training, LCV’s 2002 National Advocacy Academy, and a year long fellowship in Maryland Non-Profit Advocacy Leadership Training. She has  served on national advisory committees to the National Safe Drinking Water Advisory Council to the U.S. EPA, the Children’s Environmental Advisory Council and the National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures Policies and Practices Work Group.  

The call  was moderated by Karin Russ, National Coordinator, CHE- Fertility & Reproductive Health Working Group, and recorded.