We are a group of advanced practice nursing students who believe that justice in health care extends beyond the walls of our hospitals, clinics, or the borders of our country.

• We recognize climate change as one of the largest singular threats to health and quality of life globally and acknowledge the urgent need to act.
• We believe that the protection of the natural environment is inextricably tied to human health.
• In order to achieve a mission for global health, we must prioritize access to clean water, breathable air, and sustainable conservation of natural resources to provide the most basic necessities for human life.

Faculty Advisor

• Dr. Shelza Rivas

Student Leadership,

• President: Brianna Schnuelle 
• VP: Kaelyn Carroll 
• Secretary: Ericka King
• Graphic Designer: Emily Stuart

Our Mission

• To enable advanced practice nursing students to become leaders in issues of global and environmental health justice
• To provide learning and discussion forums in areas of global health and global environmental justice, providing a platform for faculty, students, community members, and guest lecturers to disseminate ideas that enlighten, inspire, and challenge VUSN students
• To bring together a network of students and leaders looking to address broad areas of global health and climate change, to encourage camaraderie in the field, and to develop scholarly, academic, and interprofessional collaboration
• To exhibit broad opportunities for APRN involvement in local and global and environmental health justice
• To engage in global-as-local service learning opportunities that address inequities in community and environmental health
• To act as a liaison to interdisciplinary global health groups around campus, and to share and disseminate student opportunities.

The VUSN GHEJC was started by Dr. Ziegler in 2013 as the VUSN Global Health Journal Club, and served as a forum for students to read about and present on a topic related to global health issues or their own experiences. Student interest and leadership has transformed this group over the years from a scholarly journal club, to a student-led interest club. In 2018, an environmental subgroup was established, and in 2019, the groups merged into the GHEJC.  

Membership

This group is open to any VUSN student. Interested students can email club student leadership to be added to the GHEJC email list as well as the GHEJC Brightspace Course.

Resources

Resources can be found on the group’s Brightspace page.

The group meets on the third Monday of each month from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and on the third Friday of the month hosts “Climate Fridays” from 12:20-1:10 p.m. This is a nurse-led community meeting where local impacts and adaptations related to climate change and carbon mitigation are discussed. Presently all meetings are held via Zoom.