Authors
Raluca Radu RN, MSN | Project Lead
Lecturer, UBC School of Nursing, Vancouver, B.C
Raluca is a dedicated nursing professional with a deep passion for promoting planetary health and advancing knowledge in this realm. She has worked in both the public and private sectors as a clinical resource surgical nurse as well as in occupational health and safety locally and for a short duration in Northern British Columbia. In addition, she has been very fond of working in various educator roles, especially in that of Lecturer at the UBC School of Nursing in Vancouver, where she thoroughly enjoys being the lead for the Health Impacts of Climate Change course (Nursing 290). Raluca values a learning environment conducive of positive behaviours as one that is inviting, safe to participate in, and a key determinant of success in education. Overtime, Raluca has increased her understanding of the critical role served by health professionals to integrate the social determinants of health and apply an equity lens at each level of decision-making, in order to ensure all voices and stories of individuals who experience marginalization are lifted and included. This is even more critical as we face the largest crisis of the 21st century, climate change, which will only further exacerbate inequities. Her deep commitment to advocating for practice and education to include such topics in their curricula inspired Raluca to propose this case study project in order to further innovate the current Nursing 290 course. She hopes to make this case study available as an open-education resource that can be accessed by other universities, organizations, and clinical settings, such that the care of populations in the midst of a warming climate can be ensured. Raluca hopes that through her roles as an emerging planetary health expert sitting on countless provincial and national committees, mentor, and educator she will inspire others to integrate sustainable principles into their practices and daily lives, such that we can ensure a Planet where biodiversity is protected and where future generations can thrive.
Aubree A. McAtee BSc, M.Ed | Research Assistant
Western Canada Regional Director, CASCADES, Vancouver, B.C
Aubree is passionate about facilitating connections to place through education, community building and systems change work. With a background in place-based learning, Aubree spent five years in the field of education program development and land conservation in Chile, before moving to Canada, where she completed a master of education for sustainability and worked for both UBC’s Sustainability Initiative and B.C. GreenCare, leading programs and engaging stakeholders in sustainability. Aubree leads the development and implementation of innovation projects across Western Canada as the regional project coordinator, working within the Planetary Healthcare Lab at The University of British Columbia. Alongside this work, she is a lecturer with the UBC Climate Teaching Connector program where she integrates climate justice-related content into undergraduate courses.
Her motivation to work on this case study reflects her own experiences and relations with wildfire in her home state of California and through this case study, she hopes that it will invite students to reflect on the challenging realities that we face, both to inspire and lead to systems-level action and a commitment to improving health for people and the planet. In her free time, she enjoys cooking with friends, going on bikepacking adventures, and tending to her garden.
