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Climate Change and Health: Keeping Our Families and Communities Safe
September 25, 2025 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Climate change is arguably the greatest threat to human health in the 21st century, and its effects deepen health disparities. In this presentation, Dr. Nepveux and her colleagues will discuss how extreme weather and shifting weather patterns affect lives and health in North Carolina. Participants will learn about some realistic and practical ways that communities, families, and individuals can protect their own health and that of others in our local communities and state.
Dr. Denise Nepveux is Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy at Duke University School of Medicine and the 2024 recipient of the Climate Commitment Leadership Award. She is a member of Storied Church UMC in Mebane, where she serves as the creation care liaison and volunteers with fellow church members in the Haw River Assembly RiverWatch program.
Dr. Jennifer Lawson is a Clinical Associate in Pediatrics and Faculty Associate of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities and History of Medicine at Duke University. Her interests focus on climate change and health, medical humanities, diversity, equity and belonging and physician wellbeing. She is an AAP NC Chapter Climate Advocate, serves on the education committee for Carolina Advocates for Climate, Health and Equity and completed a Theology, Medicine and Culture fellowship at Duke Divinity School.
Dr. Valerie Sabol is a Nurse Practitioner and the Director of Planetary Health at the Duke University School of Nursing, where she leads school-wide and cross-campus initiatives to embed planetary health into nursing and health professional education, research, and practice. Her scholarly and professional interests include examining the impact of extreme heat events on the health of our aging populations and advancing health equity through climate-informed care delivery, interprofessional education, and sustainable healthcare practices.
