Abby Novinska-Lois, MPH

Abby Novinska-Lois, MPH, is the inaugural Executive Director of Healthy Climate Wisconsin. Abby holds a Masters in Public Health with a Certificate in Interdisciplinary Women's Health from the University of Utah School of Medicine, a Bachelors in Environmental Science and Certificate in Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Graphic Design certificate from Madison College.

Abby began her career as a published UW-Madison Extension Researcher focused on integrated pest management solutions and pollinators in Wisconsin agriculture. Abby played a pivotal role in the launch of Healthy Climate Wisconsin (HCW) in 2020. Serving as its inaugural Executive Director, Abby leads the charge in mobilizing health professionals to address climate-related health challenges. Her work has been recognized on the national level, with several invitations to major medical conferences and the White House. She additionally serves on the Steering Committee for the Clean Economy Coalition of Wisconsin, the Steering Committee of the Fossil Free for Health Coalition, the Leadership Team of the Wisconsin Climate Table, and the Leader Team of the Wisconsin Climate and Health Communications Collaborative.

Alan Eber, MBA, BS

Alan Eber is the Chief Executive Officer for Eneration. With 25 years of HVAC design and healthcare facility leadership experience, Alan Eber was integral in helping Gundersen become the first energy-independent health system, guiding the process as Gundersen’s Energy Manager, Director of Facilities and most recently, Director of Envision. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an MBA from Viterbo University, La Crosse, Wisconsin. Alan has experience leading multidisciplinary healthcare teams and successfully consulting with other systems in their energy sustainability journey.

Alexandria Zielinski, DNP, RN

Dr. Alex Zielinski is an Adult Nurse Practitioner at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where she focuses on internal medicine and is dedicated to advancing systems change and planetary health within the nursing profession. With a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from Marquette University, Dr. Zielinski's doctoral project centered on implementing environmental justice education through the Planetary Health Framework, aiming to create transformative nursing students equipped to address health disparities.

Throughout her career, Dr. Zielinski has held various roles, including Clinical Faculty for Project BEYOND-2 and Mentor/Advisor Specialist at Marquette University, where she guided nursing students in their professional development. Her experience as a Registered Nurse at Ascension, particularly in labor and delivery, has further enriched her understanding of patient care and the importance of holistic health approaches.

Dr. Zielinski's commitment to addressing environmental justice issues is reflected in her projects on nutrition, food access, and complementary therapies aimed at improving patient outcomes. With a passion for integrating sustainability into healthcare, she continues to advocate for systems change that promotes both individual and planetary well-being.

Alexis Puyleart, MD
Speaker

Alexis Puyleart, MD

Dr. Alexis Puyleart is a resident physician in Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where she is dedicated to advancing her expertise in neurological disorders. She recently completed her Doctor of Medicine (MD) at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), where she was actively involved in the Kern Institute's Coaching for Character, Caring, and Competence (4C) Program.

Throughout her medical education, Dr. Puyleart has been a passionate advocate for climate health, co-founding the Medical Students for a Sustainable Future chapter at MCW. Additionally, she has contributed to the development of a climate and health curriculum, emphasizing the importance of sustainability in medical education.

Amanda Sullivan, Pharm.D.
Planner

Amanda Sullivan, Pharm.D.

Dr. Amanda Sullivan, who most commonly goes by "Sully", is originally from Melrose Park, Illinois. She brings a wealth of expertise and a warm, compassionate approach to her role as a pharmacist within Outreach Community Health Center, an FQHC. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Illinois - Chicago before pursuing her Doctorate of Pharmacy degree at Midwestern University. She finds immense fulfillment in her work, particularly in the connections she fosters with patients. Serving as a trusted resource, she is dedicated to addressing any medication-related inquiries patients may have, ensuring they feel empowered and informed about their health. Since joining the team at Outreach, she especially enjoys volunteering for community events, like the annual Community Health and Resource Fair.

Andrew Lewandowski, DO

Andrew Lewandowski is a community pediatrician with Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin with a career focus on climate justice solutions and climate medicine communication and education. He counsels the public, policymakers, healthcare providers, and his patients about climate change and health.

Annie Jones, PhD

Dr. Annie Jones, an enrolled member of the Menominee Nation, is a professor, organization development and Tribal Nations specialist with UW-Madison’s Division of Extension. She is also affiliate faculty with the departments of American Indian Studies and Community and Environmental Sociology. Annie has worked with Extension for nearly 25 years serving in a variety of capacities including associate dean, special assistant to the dean for strategic directions and as a community development educator based in Kenosha County. Annie specializes in participatory and community-based action research and co-leads UW-Madison’s Native Nations UW effort.

Annie holds a Ph.D. in human and organizational systems, a master of arts in human development and a graduate certificate in dialogue, deliberation and public engagement from Fielding Graduate University; a master of science in curriculum and instruction-technology enhanced education from UW-Whitewater; and a bachelor of arts in geography and social science with an emphasis in history from Carthage College. In 2023, Annie was named one of Wisconsin’s most influential Native American leaders.

Brittany Keyes, PT, DPT, ATC

Dr.  Brittany Keyes, DPT,  is a physical therapist, mom, former local-elected official, and Healthy Climate Wisconsin’s Clean Air Coordinator.  Brittany earned her Doctorate in Physical Therapy and Bachelors of Science in Athletic Training from the University of Iowa and began her career at Mayo Clinic. During.

While serving on the Beloit City Council from 2020-2022 Brittany became aware of the growing air pollution issue across Southern Wisconsin and led a collaborative community science effort to start monitoring the air locally.  This project has grown to the establishment of the Stateline Clean Air Coalition, which Brittany serves as the convener. Brittany also serves as the Climate Justice Chair for the NAACP WI State Conference and is an active member of the Beloit League of Women Voters and the WI APTA, serving on their JEDI Committee.

Bryan Rogers

Bryan Rogers is the environmental justice director at Walnut Way Conservation Corp and heads their Environmental Justice & Infrastructure Initiative. A former Witness for Peace Honduras Program Director, Bryan has facilitated dozens of delegations across Latin America and the Caribbean, building cross-border solidarity with social movements in US. His work as an educator, organizer, writer, and musician has taken him into the heart of a grassroots student movement in Chile; into black liberation struggles in Salvador, Brazil; land reclamation and reparations projects led by indigenous Lenca and black indigenous Garifuna in Honduras; anti-drug war and anti-militarization caravans through Central America; and managing a sheriff’s campaign for a queer black feminist running on an anti-racist platform.

Cameron Kiersch, DNP, RN

Dr. Cameron Kiersch is an Associate Professor at Viterbo University’s School of Nursing. There he prepares future nurses to lead interprofessional teams in the pursuit of solving complex problems like climate change and health inequity. Dr. Kiersch examines the intersection of climate and health and is steadfast in his commitment to educating future nurses about their role as planetary health advocates.

Claire Gervais, MD

Claire Gervais is a family practice physician and is a Clinical Associate Professor with the University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. She is one of the founders of Healthy Lawn Team and Healthy Climate Wisconsin, and additionally serves on the Steering Committee of the Wisconsin Environmental Health Network.

Dafna Berman, LCSW, MSW

Dafna Berman is a clinical social worker and works as a psychotherapist at Froedtert & the Medical College of WI Community Physicians. Her practice focuses on chronic behavioral health conditions related to interpersonal trauma. She received her MSW from Washington University in St. Louis and her MBA from UW-Milwaukee, Healthcare Management concentration.

Dafna is the Board President of NASW-WI (National Association of Social Workers, Wisconsin Chapter). She also served on an expert panel with the National Office of NASW to update the Association’s Mental Health Policy Statement, included in the “Social Work Speaks” publication.

Dawn Brintnall

Dawn grew up on a farm in SE Wisconsin, where she witnessed firsthand the effects of climate change in agriculture. She earned a degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, studying Conservation Biology and Zoology with a certificate in Environmental Studies. During the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, she served both as a nurse assistant and a Project Manager on an Infectious Disease team. She is an avid skier, climber, mountain biker, and trail runner in her current home of Red Lodge, Montana. She is currently applying for medical schools, and volunteers as a rural care EMT. Her goal is to contribute to equitable healthcare access and play a role in standardizing the priority of environmental practices in healthcare. As Healthy Climate Wisconsin’s Climate-Smart Program Coordinator, Dawn meets with stakeholders, trains members for community action, and assists in the creation of green teams to help push Climate-Smart initiatives in Wisconsin’s healthcare systems.

Elizabeth White, MD

Elizabeth White, MD is a Family Medicine Physician practicing with Emplify Health, formerly Gundersen Health in Viroqua Wisconsin. Her practice is focused on maternal and child health, chronic disease management, as well as full spectrum care within the life cycle. As a family doctor in rural Wisconsin she continues to deliver babies and serves as the Obstetrical Department Chair at the local Rural Access Hospital, Vernon Memorial Hospital.

She received her Medical degree at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and continues as a UWSMPH Clinical Adjunct Faculty member as the site director at her local clinic where she teaches medical students during their clinical rotations. She completed her residency training at Gundersen Health, a national leader in the climate space for healthcare.

In line with her rural and agricultural roots, she dedicated her training to deliver high value care to a rural community similar to the one in which she was raised. Following establishing her practice of medicine in rural Viroqua, she was introduced to Healthy Climate Wisconsin through which she is interested in climate advocacy as it intersects with agriculture and food systems.

Emily Walz, MD

Emily Walz, MD is a community psychiatrist who is specifically interested in climate change's impacts on people suffering from severe mental illness.  She received her Masters of Social Work from the Ohio State University in 2005.  For several years, she managed a small caseload of severely, persistently mentally ill adults at Northwest Community Counseling Centers in Ohio.  She received both a medical degree and completed psychiatric residency training at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.  She was awarded a National Health Service Corps Scholarship and, for the past seven years, has worked at Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, a federally qualified health center, in Waukesha, Wisconsin.  Most recently, Emily has become a Midwestern regional leader for the Climate Psychiatry Alliance.

Erin Duffer
Speaker

Erin Duffer

Erin Duffer, AICP, is a Transportation Planner with La Crosse Area Planning Committee (LAPC), the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the La Crosse, WI and La Crescent, MN urbanized area. She graduated from Iowa State University with a double major in Community and Regional Planning and Environmental Studies. Go Cyclones! As well, Erin is the Vice President of Communications for the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Planning Association.

Hannah Sorensen

Hannah Sorensen is a Masters in Public Health Student at the University of Milwaukee and holds a Bachelors in Community & Environmental Sociology and Global Health from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Previously, Hannah worked for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services as the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Program Coordinator. She recently completed her practicum with Healthy Climate Wisconsin studying energy burden as a social determinant of health.

Iyla Shornstein

Iyla Shornstein is the Political Director at the Center for Climate Integrity, where she develops and oversees the organization's state and local political and advocacy strategies. Her work is centered on outreach, education, and engagement of public officials on the issue of climate accountability, with a goal to build and strengthen the national movement to hold Big Oil accountable for their devastating lies. Iyla also directs CCI's state legislative program aimed at recovering costs for victims of climate disasters, strengthening environmental marketing laws, and more. 

Before joining CCI in 2020, Iyla worked on a number of political campaigns at the local, state, and federal level in New York, Virginia, and Ohio. Prior to her campaign work, she spent three years at an agricultural nonprofit in New York's Hudson Valley. Iyla holds a Masters degree in Environmental Policy from Bard College, where she received the Rachel Carson award for her research quantifying the influence of fossil fuel campaign contributions on congressional voting behavior.

Jasia Steinmetz

Jasia Steinmetz is a Professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, in the School of Health Promotion and Human Development. Alongside her academic roles, she has worked as a consulting nutritionist since 1992.

Her research focuses on dietetics education, food security, sustainability, and community development. Professor Steinmetz has published extensively, including contributions to The Sage Encyclopedia of Food Issues and is the author of the book Eat Local: Simple Steps to Enjoy Real, Healthy & Affordable Food. Her work promotes practical approaches to nutrition and sustainability.

Jed Downs, MD, MPH, DOMP

Dr. Jed Downs has been practicing osteopathic medicine for the past 20 years and owns Madison Manual Medicine in Madison, WI. He earned his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from the University of Minnesota Medical School, followed by an Internal Medicine Residency at Hennepin County Medical Center. He further specialized in Occupational Medicine through a residency program at the Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety from 1987 to 1989, and he obtained a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) in Environmental Health from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health in 1988.

Jeff Hartman, PT, DPT, MPH

Jeff Hartman is an assistant professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, as well as an instructor role in the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics orthopedic residency program. He has a clinic appointment at University Health Services.

Hartman’s clinical career has been primarily in the outpatient orthopedics, including a five-year stint in a Level-I trauma center in Indianapolis. He has extensive global health experience that includes serving as a clinician, administrator, researcher and educator with various organizations in 10 different countries. His research focuses on global and community health and development and global health education.

Jeff Rich, BS
Speaker

Jeff Rich, BS

Jeff Rich, BS serves as the executive director for Gundersen Envision, Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He came to Gundersen Health System in 2006 with a focus on driving internal efficiency and quality improvements. As a result of efficiency improvement work, he led Gunderson Health System’s efforts to become energy independent. This also resulted in the ability to reduce pollutants in the atmosphere and water, as well as decreasing their effects on human health. Jeff is an advocate for energy and environmental improvement within the healthcare sector. He served on the Wisconsin Office of Energy Independence delegation for the 2010 National Governors’ Association Policy Academy, as a section board member for the American Society for Quality, and as a board member for the Gundersen Health Plan. Jeff received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from University of Wisconsin–Platteville and is certified in Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Jennifer Giergerich

As the Government Affairs Director for the Wisconsin Conservation Voters, Jennifer builds long-term relationships with legislators and staff, tracks all conservation legislation and budget matters, and helps craft winning issue campaigns. Jennifer also works with field teams to develop local campaigns that build the case for state-level policy. Jennifer has a long list of policy successes, including the passage of the Clean Energy Bill in 2006, reauthorization of the Stewardship Fund in 2007, adoption of the Great Lakes Compact in 2008, shepherding the Independent DNR Secretary Bill through both houses in 2010, and the defeat of the Open-Pit Mining bill in 2012. Jennifer has additionally served in Wisconsin Women in Government and on the Policy Committee for the Wisconsin Breast Cancer Coalition.

Jesse Beckendorf

Jesse Beckendorf is the Lead Program Manager for Eneration. Before joining Eneration, Jesse Beckendorf was a project manager for Envision, a part of Gundersen Health System. His responsibilities included leadership of energy projects and the sustainability council. Before joining Envision, Jesse had a 17-year career at Dairyland Power Cooperative in southwest Wisconsin. He held various technical and leadership positions in the real estate & right-of-way, transmission design & engineering and project management departments. He was an essential member of the formation of the project management department.

Jesse has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ashford University, Chandler, Arizona, and an associate degree in land surveying from Rochester Community & Technical College, Minnesota. He has had additional training in engineering, project management and change management. He is a member of the Project Management Institute and the Wisconsin Healthcare Engineering Association.

Joanne Bernstein, MD

Joanne Bernstein is an associate professor and course director for the Medical College of Wisconsin. She serves as an internist and clinical educator at the Zablocki VA in Milwaukee WI. Prior to becoming a physician, Joanne worked as an electrical engineer at GE Healthcare. As a physician and

 mother of two, Joanne is concerned about the current and future health impacts of climate change. She believes we all have a role to play in reducing our environmental impact for the wellness and prosperity of future generations. Joanne has taken climate action by educating her patients, minimizing waste in her clinical practices and healthcare system, engaging with local and national advocacy groups and developing medical curriculum to prepare our future physicians to do the same.

Joel Charles, MD, MPH

Joel Charles is a full spectrum family physician practicing in rural southwest Wisconsin where he serves as medical director for the Kickapoo Valley Medical Clinic. From the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health he received his MD and Master of Public Health degrees, the latter focusing on climate and health. He attended both those programs as a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarship. He completed his residency at Sutter Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency. Upon returning to Wisconsin he helped found Healthy Climate Wisconsin, a fast-growing group of health professionals committed to advocating for equitable solutions to the climate crisis.

Joel Hill, MPAS, PA-C

Joel joined the UW-Madison PA Program in May of 2010 with 14 years of clinical experience in military and civilian practices. As Clinical Instructor/Associate Director of Clinical Education he will head up clinical pharmacology curriculum and clinical prevention and population health modules. He will also participate in history and physical assessment evaluations. He graduated from the United States Air Force/University of Nebraska PA Program in 1996 and received his MPAS from the University of Nebraska in 1998. He practiced family medicine and urgent care for 10 years while on active duty in various locations, with a tour to Iraq in 2004. He retired from the USAF in 2006 after 21 years on active duty and began working as a surgical PA in Rapid City, South Dakota in general, thoracic and oncologic surgery. As a surgical PA he practiced hospital and clinic medicine as well as first assisting in numerous surgeries in the OR. He has also instructed at the University of Alaska while stationed in Fairbanks and for the South Dakota Academy of Physician Assistants annual conferences.

Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH

Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH, is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor and the John P. Holton Endowed Chair of Health and the Environment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 2011-2022 he served as inaugural Director of UW-Madison’s Global Health Institute and has faculty appointments in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Department of Population Health Sciences. Patz also directs the university’s Planetary Health Scholars Program. In 2019, he was elected into the National Academy of Medicine for his pioneering work at the intersection of climate change and public health. His efforts date back to 1994, when he convened the first-ever session (and wrote the first policy resolution) on climate change for the American Public Health Association. For over 25 years, Professor Patz has taught and conducted research on climate change and has published over 200 science publications and several textbooks on this environmental public health topic.

Dr. Patz co-chaired the health report for the first Congressionally mandated US National Assessment on Climate Change and for 15 years served as a Lead Author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the organization that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Some of his other awards include: the Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows Award; shared Zayed International Prize for the Environment; Fulbright Scholarship; American Public Health Association’s Homer Calver Award for environmental health leadership; Case Western School of Medicine Alumni Special Recognition award; elected member of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, and the Chanchlani Global Health Research Award.

He has earned medical board certification in both Occupational/Environmental Medicine and Family Medicine and received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University (1987) and his Master of Public Health degree (1992) from Johns Hopkins University.

Kelly Isabelle DeMarco

Speaker

Kelly Isabelle DeMarco

Occupational Therapist, WomanSpeak Circle Leader, Health and Wellness Coach, Climate Coach and Activist, Meditation and Mindfulness Trainer; active member of Healthy Climate Wisconsin, Occupational Therapy for Environmental Action, and the Climate Coaching Alliance; Mother, Farmer, Vlogger (YouTube@kellyisabelledemarco), Founder of kellyGREENcoaching, LLC.

Kelly Sanks, PhD

Kelly Sanks is the Climate Science Lead at the Center for Climate Integrity, where she uses science to inform climate models and associated climate adaptation costs.

Kelly earned her PhD in Geoscience from the University of Arkansas in 2021, where she studied the interaction of river deltas and wetlands. During her PhD, she also worked as a Hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, where she worked on various projects related to changing river conditions in the Southeastern United States. Before joining CCI in 2023, Kelly worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Tulane University, where she taught Global Climate Change, researched carbon accumulation in coastal environments and its potential role as a nature-based climate solution and volunteered as a community science fellow.

Laura Lane, JD

Laura Lane, JD, is Healthy Climate Wisconsin’s Communications Manager. She works on the Solutions for Pollution and Climate Wins Here campaigns, both of which focus on the passage of ambitious federal climate policy and pollution safeguards that are centered on health and justice.

Laura studied law at the University of Colorado and passed the Wisconsin bar in 1999. After her children were born, she became a freelance journalist. She specializes in writing for children, and her work has appeared in national magazines, including Highlights and Ask. She has written five books for children, most recently a field guide that helps kids identify 100 butterflies from around the world. She was invited to read her essay, “Pond Skating,” on Wisconsin Public Radio, and she has also been a guest on the station’s The Morning Show.

Lisa Cottrell, PhD, CBSM, DBSM

Lisa is a clinical health psychologist specializing in the behavioral and psychological treatment of sleep disorders for adults, adolescents and children at AdvocateAurora Health Care. Dr. Cottrell is a diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine as well as the Society for Behavioral Sleep Medicine and she completed post-doctoral training in an AASM mini-fellowship at Stanford University Medical School Sleep Medicine Clinic. She has been a member of Healthy Climate Wisconsin since its inaugural conference and is committed to providing professional and community-based education about the health effects of climate change as well as taking action to fight for policies to address the climate crisis.

Mary Kastman
Speaker

Mary Kastman

A native of Evanston, Illinois, Mary Kastman is a graduate of UW Madison and the Madison College Culinary Arts Program. Mary began her culinary career in Madison, WI (Restaurant Muramoto, 43 North) before relocating to Boston in 2011. In Boston, Mary discovered her deep love for Eastern Mediterranean food and spice while working at two of Boston’s powerhouse restaurants, Oleana and Sarma. Mary relocated to Viroqua, Wisconsin and took on the role of Executive Chef at the Driftless Cafe in the spring of 2019. Her travels have included Northern Spain, Turkey and Western Europe. Her passion for localism through the lens of eastern mediterranean flavors earned her a James Beard Semi-Finalist nomination for Best Chef, Midwest in 2022. Purslane began in the summer of 2024 as a pop-up concept based in Viroqua, WI those people to the flavors of the Mediterranean and Middle East while utilizing an extensive network of small and family farms in rural Wisconsin.

McKenzie Beyer, MS, LPC-IT

McKenzie Beyer is a master’s-level graduate from the University of Wisconsin’s Stout’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program. She takes a client-centered approach to therapy with an emphasis on building the therapeutic relationship. Beyer has had training in different treatment modalities such as DBT, CBT, ERP, and CPT, and tailors treatment to the specific client. This allows her to meet the client where they are at and allows for different treatment options based on the client’s specific needs and goals. Beyer has had additional training in trauma, substance use, and eating disorders. She also has had experience in working with anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD, and PTSD.

Michelle Hoersch, MS

Michelle Hoersch is a Public Health Analyst for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Region 5 and has been with the Department since 1996, most of that time in the Office on Women’s Health. Michelle has a Master of Science degree in Health Law and Administration from DePaul University in Chicago.

Michelle works to improve the health and wellbeing of women across the lifespan, with particular emphasis on underserved groups of women and girls, through policies, programs, and initiatives. Her work focuses on increasing health equity through trauma-informed, gender-responsive approaches. Michelle is an active member of collaboratives at both the national and local level working to advance health equity and trauma-informed principles and approaches in policy, program, practice, and culture. More recently, Michelle has focused on efforts to address the intersections of maternal morbidity and mortality, health equity, and the impact of climate change. She is seasoned presenter and an ACE Interface master trainer. Michelle is a strong supporter of interns to foster the development of emerging public health professionals interested in trauma-informed approaches, women's health and social justice.

Sarah Francois, LCSW

Sarah is a Clinical Social worker specializing in psychotherapy treatment for adults with OCD and Related Disorders, Anxiety Disorders and PTSD.  Her 25 year career in Wisconsin includes 10+ years in community mental health (Milwaukee and Dane Counties), 9 years with the US Department of Veterans Affairs and 5 years in specialized private practice. 

Sarah is committed to the provision of evidence-based psychotherapy interventions and identifies as a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist embracing rigorous fidelity to treatments that work (CBT, CBT with ERP, CPT, PE and ACT specifically).  She earned her Masters in Social Work from UW-Milwaukee in 2003 and a bachelors in Sociology from the University of Dayton in 1998.  Sarah’s parents emigrated to Milwaukee from rural Wisconsin in 1970 after turning down the family dairy farm in hopes of a more secure financial future in “the big city.” 

Sarah sought to join forces with HCW after working with several adults for whom severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and/or Anxiety Disorders reflected thematic fears around climate change, natural disasters, personal responsibility, betrayal and hopelessness. Concurrently, Sarah’s teenage sons frequently express non-pathological climate distress and she is encouraged by this generations’ enthusiasm to be change agents.  

Tonyisha Harris

Tonyisha is a passionate environmental advocate currently serving as the Illinois Climate and Energy Program Manager at The Nature Conservancy. She played a key role within the coalition and negotiation process that led to the passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in Illinois. Previously, she worked with Action for the Climate Emergency as Associate Director of Youth Media & Partnerships.

Tonyisha has also held positions at the Illinois Environmental Council, including Chicagoland Conservation Manager and Clean Energy Programs Director, where she promoted clean energy initiatives. Her commitment to education and mentorship is reflected in her work as a Fellow with the New Leaders Council and as a Peer Mentor with Achieving College Excellence. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science from Loyola University Chicago.

Travis Key
Speaker

Travis Key

Travis Key is a Transportation with La Crosse Area Planning Committee. He started in July of 2024 after graduating with a Bachelor's of Geography from the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. Through his coursework and undergraduate research, he has a background in geographic information systems (GIS), environmental science, and environmental studies. Travis is passionate about sustainable transportation, loves to bike, and hopes to enable greater freedom to others to choose how they get around.

Valeria Hairston, DPM

Dr. Valeria Dee Hairston is a practicing podiatrist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She practices at Milwaukee Health Services, a Federally Qualified Health Care Center. Dr. Hairston is double-boarded in the subspecialties of Podiatric Surgery and Podiatric Orthopedics.

Victoria Gillet, MD

Dr. Victoria Gillet is a primary care physician and the Director for the Primary Care Track in the Internal Medicine Residency at Aurora Health Care. Dr. Gillet serves on the Forward We Energies issue team and the Milwaukee local organizing team for Healthy Climate Wisconsin, and is also involved in climate action as an active Sierra Club volunteer and the Climate Work Group lead for the Wisconsin ACP Health and Public Policy Committee

Dr. Gillet earned her Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the University of Chicago Pritzer School of Medicine and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinic.

Yusuf Adama

Yusuf Adama is the Health Equity and Resilient Communities Coordinator for Healthy Climate Wisconsin. Yusuf also serves on the board of the Beloit Community Health Center and is an active City Councilor in Beloit. With a strong background in fostering democracy, he has organized numerous initiatives aimed at amplifying youth voices in decision-making processes through organizations like For Our Future. Yusuf is dedicated to creating inclusive communities that prioritize the health and well-being of all residents.

Yvonne Collins, MD, FACOG

Yvonne C. Collins M.D. is a Gynecologic Oncologist and Chief Medical Officer of CountyCare within Cook County Health Hospitals System. She is board certified in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Gynecologic Oncology. Dr. Collins is a graduate of Xavier University in Louisiana and the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, Florida. She completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois and her fellowship training in Gynecologic Oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York.

Dr. Collins has devoted her career to educating underserved women on the importance of routine health maintenance. She also has an interest in empowering women through education, eliminating barriers to care, and increasing access. She works with community organizations, area churches, beauty salons, and task forces on developing ways to decrease racial disparities related to cervical cancer. She has provided healthcare in the United States and has traveled abroad to Central America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa providing care. She lectures nationally and internationally with the goal of educating on disease prevention. Her honors include Outstanding Teacher (twice) and Humanitarian of the Year. She is currently a Region IV Trustee for the National Medical Association and a member of the Cook County Physicians Association.