Shirley Stinson Lecture

Dr. Barbara Astle is a Professor of Nursing and the Director of the Master in Science (MSN) program for Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C. She is recognized as a leader in global health education, planetary health education, and research literacy, and for her involvement in numerous national and international organizations. She was a recipient of the Excellence in Nursing Education Award by the Association of Registered Nurses in British Columbia, Canada (2017) acknowledging her research, education, and mentorship in global health. In 2020, Astle was an Inductee to the Canadian Women in Global Health List, which recognizes the achievements of established leaders in global health. Dr. Astle’s research focuses on areas of global health, planetary health, health equity, human rights, gender, and research literacy related to education, and population health.

 Dr. Astle is passionate about ensuring that the next generation of students and faculty are mindful of the importance of health equity and justice in global/planetary health. She is a committed nursing leader specifically in advocating for the development and integration of global and planetary health education that fosters key elements of the interconnectedness of the sustainability of our planet for the health and wellbeing of our population. She worked with an interdisciplinary, intergenerational, geographically diverse, and gender-inclusive group of scholars and practitioners on the development of the Planetary Health Education Framework. This framework is recognized as a foundational document for planetary health education.

Lindsay Komar is a recent graduate of the Master of Nursing program at the University of Alberta and the Alberta co-representative for the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment. Lindsay is dedicated to incorporating planetary health into nursing education and has created planetary health learning modules to help nurses develop a planetary health lens through which to view and understand the interconnections between human health and our planet’s natural systems. 

Fiona is a Nursing educator and member of the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment. She is also a course lecturer at the Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University, and taught at Dawson College Montreal for over 20 years. Fiona is dedicated to supporting social justice movements, including promotion of midwifery care in Canada. This evolved into deep concern about environmental health and climate, and now the emerging planetary health movement. She has long advocated for nursing leadership in addressing the environmental and climate crises, and in bridging the gap between research and action. One of her current collaborations is as climate curriculum consultant for the nursing department at John Abbott College in Montreal.