For Immediate Release
Contact: Lea Ann Scales
Assistant Vice President
of Public Relations and Marketing
508-929-8018
April 30, 2012
(Denver, CO) — The Health Care Without Harm Nurses Work Group in conjunction with The Luminary Project has named Dr. Stephanie Chalupka, EdD, APRN, PHCNS-BC, FAAOHN, as the 2012 Recipient of the Charlotte Brody Award. Dr. Chalupka is Professor of Public Health Nursing and Chair of the Dr. Lillian R. Goodman Department of Nursing at Worcester State University and also holds an appointment as a Visiting Scientist in the Department of Environmental Health, Environmental and Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology Program at the Harvard School of Public Health. HCWH also named Morgan Lincoln as the winner of the Hollie Shaner-McRae Nursing Student Essay Contest.
Quoting from a press release posted on the Luminary Project’s website, “Dr. Chalupka’s life work embodies the spirit of the Charlotte Brody Award,” stated Kelli Barber, RN, MN, Co-chair of the Nurses Work Group for Health Care Without Harm. “Her work in the field of environmental health spans two decades and includes addressing sustainability in the healthcare setting, educating the public on hazardous environmental exposures, and integrating environmental health concepts into nursing education. The positive impacts of her work are far-reaching – influencing public health policy and promoting the role of nurses in the field of environmental health through the presentation of research. Dr. Chalupka is a phenomenal role model, empowering and leading the nursing commitment to improving environmental health.”
Speaking from Denver where she is attending CleanMed 2012, and where she will receive the award, May 1, Chalupka said the recognition is an honor and important to her work with her WSU students. “Through the integration of environmental health into our nurse educators curriculum, we are shaping the next generation of nurses who will think more holistically about the broader determinants of health.”
WSU President Barry M. Maloney said, “our students and faculty are so very fortunate to have the expertise Dr. Chalupka brings to our campus. She is recognized nationally and internationally and provides an incredible asset to our students, our graduates and the broader community that they serve. This recognition is well deserved and we are all very proud of her.”
According to Health Care Without Harm, the Charlotte Brody Award was created in 1996 in honor of Charlotte Brody, one of the founders of HCWH. A lifelong advocate for social change, a registered nurse and activist, Ms. Brody has spent her life making the world a safer place for people around the world. The award recognizes a nurse’s endeavors towards “brilliantly lighting the way to a healthier environment and inspiring other nurses to do the same.” HCWH’s Nurses Workgroup sponsors The Luminary Project: Nurses Lighting the Way to Environmental Health. The Luminary Project encourages nurses to engage in environmental health and to tell their stories to inspire others to do the same.
For more than two decades, Dr. Chalupka has worked to reduce and prevent harmful exposures and health risks to children and underserved, disproportionately impacted low income, minority, and tribal communities. As a member of UMass Lowell Sustainable Hospitals Program research team, Dr. Chalupka was instrumental in the development of information that has been recognized as an important resource for those working to reduce the impact of hospitals on the environment. Dr. Chalupka is currently engaged in a four-year project providing assessment, remediation and education for low income, immigrant, and refugee families living in homes with environmental hazards.
Dr. Chalupka has been successful in integrating environmental health into all levels of nursing education. She developed the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses’ Core Curriculum in Environmental Health for Nurses. She incorporated environmental health content into all MS courses into the Community & Public Health and the Nurse Educator programs at Worcester State University. This is the first university in the country to require an environmental health education course in these programs.
Dr. Chalupka has authored numerous publications in environmental and occupational health. She has presented hundreds of papers on environmental health at national and international nursing, occupational health, and public health conferences, raising the profile of nursing in the world of environmental health science.
Recently, Dr. Chalupka served as a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) National Conversation on Public Health & Chemical Exposures. She is a member of the Senior Advisory Council of Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production’s Toward Tomorrow Advisory Board; and the National Environmental Education Foundation’s Health and Environment Advisory Committee.
To read the full press release, visit The Luminary Project website.
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