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Environmental Health Education Center Staff

Barbara Sattler, RN, DrPH, FAAN
Director, Environmental Health and Education Center

Dr. Barbara Sattler is the Director of the Environmental Health Education Center at  the University of Maryland School of Nursing where she is an Associate Professor. The Environmental Health Education Center, a multi-disciplinary center in Baltimore, is engaged in training, education, and research related to environmental health.    Dr. Sattler is the principle investigator/director on several projects including an EPA-funded project on community exposures to hazardous waste sites, a Beldon Fund-supported grant on environmental health advocacy, a state grant to develop mediation and alternative dispute resolution skills for public health professionals on environmental health issues, a federal Health Resources Service Administration grant for graduate education on environmental health for nurses, a grant for statewide strategic planning for asthma.  Dr. Sattler directs the first Environmental Health Nursing graduate program in the country and directs a national writing program for nurses on environmental health issues.
          Dr. Sattler recently received a generous grant from local foundations to help Maryland hospitals enhance their environmental stewardship.  This project involves collaboration between the Maryland Hospital Association, the Maryland Department of the Environment, the Maryland Nurses Association and two national initiatives: Hospitals for a Healthy Environment and the Health Care Without Harm campaign.
          Dr. Sattler has directed an Environmental Justice grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Science and has served on federal advisory committees to the EPA’s Office of Child Health Protection and the Office of Drinking Water.  Dr. Sattler is a Registered Nurse with both a Masters and Doctorate in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University School Public Health.   She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nurses, writes a nationally syndicated column for nurses on environmental health issues and is the co-author of Environmental Health and Nursing.

Barbara Sattler, RN, DrPH, FAAN
Environmental Health Education Center
University of Maryland School of Nursing
655 West Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 706-1849
bsattler@son.umaryland.edu

Brenda Afzal, RN, MS
Director of Health Programs

 Brenda Afzal is Director of Health Programs at the Environmental Health Education Center at the University of Maryland School of Nursing where she is responsible for several critical initiatives building environmental health education and advocacy and leadership development.  Ms. Afzal works at  the local, state, and federal level in developing nurses’ capacity to effectively engage in the emerging area of environmental health.  Her leadership is evident in the Maryland State Nurses’ Association where, as an elected officer, she helped developed an Environmental Health Task Force, creating a model for other states to follow.   She has helped to develop an effective network of state and national environmental and nursing organizations that have been successfully engaging on common ground issues related to health and the environment.   Her advocacy work has been recognized nationally and is currently supported by the Beldon Fund.
           Within the School of Nursing she has taken leadership in several important educational and practice activities.  In addition to teaching environmental health classes at the undergraduate and graduate level and publishing in nursing journals, Ms. Afzal frequently speaks at national nursing and environmental health conferences.  She initiated a “green team” that has focused on creating a model for an environmentally healthy and safe facility.  She helped to transfer the lessons learned from this experience into a helpful, web-based menu of guidelines and resources.
            Ms. Afzal has effectively employed her environmental health expertise concerning drinking water issues while participating on national advisory committees to the National Safe Drinking Water Advisory Council to the U.S. EPA.   Professionally, Ms Afzal is active in both the American Nurses’ Association and the American Public Health Association.  Ms Afzal is a Registered Nurse with a Masters Degree in Community/Public Health Nursing. 

Brenda M Afzal, RN, MS
Environmental Health Education Center
University of Maryland School of Nursing
655 West Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 706-1778
bafzal@son.umaryland.edu

Allison Del Bene Davis, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor

Allison Del Bene Davis, PhD, RN, is a Clinical Instructor at The University of Maryland, School of Nursing.  Her area of research focuses on the identification of environmental health risks in the homes of people with developmental disabilities and other vulnerable populations and the translation of this science into practices that protect health.  She is particularly interested in the characteristics of people with cognitive and developmental that make them more vulnerable to chemicals and other environmental health risks.  Dr. Del Bene Davis is an advocate for equal rights and protection from environmental hazards for people with developmental disabilities.  Dr. Del Bene Davis received her M.S. in community, public, and environmental health nursing and her PhD from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Allison Del Bene Davis, PhD, RN
Environmental Health Education Center
University of Maryland, School of Nursing
655 West Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
adavi004@son.umaryland.edu

Robyn Gilden, RN, MS
Program Manager for the Center for Hazardous Substances in Urban Environments, Clinical Instructor

 Robyn Gilden has a Master’s in Community and Public Health Nursing with a Post-Master’s focus in  Environmental Health and works for University of Maryland School of Nursing’s Environmental Health Education Center (UMSON EHEC) and teaches an undergraduate community health nursing clinical.  She is also engaged in doctoral work in nursing research at UMSON with an interest in assessing exposure to pesticides and implementation of safer alternatives. 
         Gilden is currently working as the community outreach program manager for the Center for Hazardous Substances in Urban Environments.  The Center is based at Johns Hopkins University, but the engineers have subcontracted with UMSON EHEC for the community outreach component. As part of her work, she engages with diverse communities in EPA Region 3, all laboring with a common concern about contaminated sites in their neighborhoods. Gilden collaborates with them to develop community knowledge and skills and thereby encouraging them to become active participants in cleanup projects, from the beginning of assessment through the end of redevelopment.  Another facet of her work is to facilitate communication among stakeholders and create a forum for open discussions among all parties.  These entities include, but are not limited to, government agencies, developers, bankers, realtors, engineers, academics, and other health care professionals.

Robyn Gilden, RN, MS   
University of Maryland School of Nursing
655 West Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 706-4803
rgilden@son.umaryland.edu

Laura Evans, MPH
Web Developer & Program Assistant

Laura Evans graduated with her Masters of Public Health in Community Health Education from the University of Maryland, College Park in May 2006.  She is currently a student at the School of Nursing and plans to graduate in December 2007 with a Masters of Science: Clinical Nurse Leader.  She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Delaware in 2004. 
         Laura works for the Environmental Health Education Center as a web developer for the EnviRN website.  Through working with EHEC, she has also worked as a program assistant with Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving environmental stewardship in Maryland hospitals and healthcare facilities. 

Laura Evans, MPH
Environmental Health Education Center
University of Maryland School of Nursing
655 West Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 706-1849
levan004@umaryland.edu

Josanne Revoir, MS, RN
EHEC Techie

Josanne Revoir is a registered nurse who came to work for the Environmental Health Education Center prior to graduating with her Masters in Nursing Informatics from the University of Maryland Baltimore in May of 2007.  Though hired on as a research assistant, it wasn’t long before Josanne became known as the EHEC techie and began working on the information technology and communication needs of the center. Assisting with the Envirn website re-design, updating and compiling the Envirn List-serv email newsletter, and troubleshooting IT issues for the Center has been her primary duties.  Though not published as of yet, her Nursing Informatics graduation paper combined two of her passions: computer technology and environmental health. Our sombreros are off to Josanne as she begins her Nurse Consultant position for the government, working on instructional design for nursing education. Don't worry she's still "just a few clicks away" from us at the Center.

Josanne Revoir, MS, RN
Research Assistant
Environmental Health Education Center
University of Maryland School of Nursing
655 West Lombard Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 706-1849
jrevo001@umaryland.edu