Environment and Health: New Roles for Health Professionals

Sahar Nourendini received her BSN from Sacramento State University in 2003, her MSN from the University of California in San Francisco in 2009, and her Ph.D. in occupational and environmental health nursing from the University of California San Francisco in 2015.

She is an Assistant Professor of Nursing and Community Health Nursing Coordinator and the Post-licensure Nursing Program Coordinator with California State University East Bay.

Her research and advocacy interest focus on addressing occupational and environmental health inequities as well as disaster preparedness and response.

Erika Alfaro is a public health nurse with San Mateo County in California. She is an immigrant from Mexico who proudly comes from a large family of doctors, biologists, agricultural engineers, architects, house cleaners and farm workers. Since the age of 15, Erika has held leadership positions with various non-profits predominantly focused on communities and community building. She is the current president of the thriving SF/Golden Gate NAHN chapter and recipient of the 2023 Sarah Gomez Erlach Humanitarian Award. She serves as Co- Chair of the Farmworker Committee with the California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice and was part of the 2019 fellowship cohort with the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. Last but not least, she works closely with organizations like Safe Ag Safe Schools and Center for Farmworker Families to advocate and amplify farmworker communities in Santa Cruz, as well as farmworker communities all over California. 

Dr. Sattler is a professor at the University of San Francisco and an international leader in environmental health and nursing. She is a founding and active member of both California Nurses for Environmental Health & Justice, as well as the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. While at the University of Maryland, she directed the Maryland hospitals for Healthy Environments, a 10-year statewide initiative that helped hospitals develop sustainable policies and practice to achieve the triple bottom line of employee health, patient health, and ecological health. She also helped to bring local, sustainable, and healthy foods to Maryland’s hospitals, supported by grants from the US Department of Agriculture. 

Dr. Sattler has worked in communities facing environmental health risks associated with lead-based paint, pesticides, superfund sites, and risks associated with gas and oil extraction, including fracking. She has been an advisor to the US EPA’s Office of Child Health Protection and the National Library of Medicine for informational needs of health professionals on environmental health. Dr. Sattler has been the recipient of NIEHS, HUD, and EPA grants, as well as a host of private foundations. She is also an author of Environmental Health and Nursing Practice and a host of peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Sattler is a Registered Nurse with an MPH and DrPH from the John Hopkins School of Public Health. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Karin is a community health nursing educator and a public health nurse with international and local community health experience. She teaches community health nursing at California State University, Bakersfield and is retired from Kern County Public Health. She has seen first-hand how air pollution and other environmental threats affect the residents of  Kern County. A former chair and co-chair of the Asthma Coalition of Kern County, she has been encouraged to see the community coalitions work together for healthier communities in the Central Valley.