Oracle Meeting Faculty
The Oracle Meeting faculty are content experts in the field. Please read more in their individual faculty profiles.
Karen A. Ballard, MA, RN is a graduate of Niagara University and New York University. She is currently the Chair of the Nurses Workgroup for Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), an international coalition of 433 organizations in 52 countries working to transform the healthcare industry so it is no longer a source of harm to people and the environment.
Previously for twenty years, Ms. Ballard held various staff positions with the New York State Nurses Association including Director of Special Projects and Director of the Practice and Governmental Affairs Program where she interpreted nursing practice issues, served as a lobbyist and addressed such issues as bioterrorism, HIV/AIDs, reimbursement, nursing acuity and staffing and the nursing shortage.
Additionally, she was a clinical nurse specialist in pediatric-mental health working with chronically and terminally ill children. Ms. Ballard has served six years as a member and chair of ANA’s Standards and Guidelines Committee and as Vice-Chairperson of ANA’s Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics. She is the co-author of Psychiatric Nursing – An Integration of Theory and Practice and her recent articles include “Patient Safety: A Shared Responsibility” in Online Journal of Issues in Nursing and “Nursing Cost by DRG: Nursing Intensity Weights” in Policy, Politics and Nursing Practice. Ms. Ballard’s most recent project is as the contributing editor of AJN’s newest quarterly column – “Environments and Health”.
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Brenda Afzal, RN, MS is a Senior Staff member of the Environmental Health Education Center at the University of Maryland School of Nursing where she is responsible for several critical initiatives including environmental health advocacy, leadership development, and environmental justice. Ms. Afzal works simultaneously 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 is developing an Environmental Health Task Force, creating a model for other states to follow. She has developed an effective network of state and national environmentalist organizations that have been successfully engaging with the nursing profession 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 several national advisory committees, such as 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.
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Ms. Afzal is the Director of Health Programs at the Environmental Health Education Center at the University of Maryland School of Nursing where she is responsible for several initiatives including environmental health education and advocacy and leadership development. Ms. Afzal works simultaneously 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.
Ms Afzal has had extensive advocacy and leadership training. In 2007, she completed the League of Conservation Voter’s Leadership (LCV) ELI training and had previously completed LCV’s 2002 National Advocacy Academy in Washington, D.C. In December of 2006, Afzal completed a year long fellowship in Maryland Non-Profit Advocacy Leadership Training program, and she also completed the Rockwood Leadership Training “The Art of Leadership” in September 2002. In December 2002, she participated in United States Environmental Protection Agency’s National Enforcement Training Institute. “Fundamentals of Environmental Justice Workshop”.
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. In addition, she has recently joined the Executive Board of the Children’s Environmental Health Network. 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.
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Laura Anderko RN, PhD is the Robert and Kathleen Scanlon Endowed Chair in Values Based Health Care at Georgetown University’s School of Nursing & Health Studies, and is a Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Executive Nurse Fellow. Dr. Anderko received her bachelor’s (University of Illinois) and master’s (Northern Illinois University) degrees in nursing and her PhD in public health (University of Illinois).
Dr. Anderko has been involved in a number of activities in the field of environmental health including practice, education, research, and advocacy. Her RWJ Fellowship explored the integration of environmental health principles related to fish consumption and mercury into primary health practices provided at nurse managed centers. Additionally, Dr. Anderko developed statewide partnerships in Wisconsin to address the reduction of health risks in children related to fish consumption, through risk communication strategies.
She is the founder and Chair of the Wisconsin Environmental Health Nursing Coalition of the Wisconsin Nurses Association, and has been instrumental in increasing the number of nurses advocating for a cleaner environment through letter writing campaigns. Selected as a Faculty Champion for the National Environmental Education Foundation in 2007, Dr. Anderko has educated over 500 nurses in a variety of topics including environmental health assessment and risk reduction.
She has been actively involved in two federal advisory committees for the Environmental Health Protection Agency (EPA): the National Drinking Water Advisory Committee (NDWAC) and the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC). As a member of the CHPAC, Dr. Anderko recently co-chaired two committees that reviewed and reported on the Children’s Environmental Research Centers (2007) and the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (2008).
