What inspired your interest in Planetary Health?

My interest in Planetary Health stems from my longstanding focus on global systems and their impacts on human health. Growing up by the Australian bush and formative years in northern China, I became deeply aware of how environmental degradation and policy actions or inactions affect health across borders. My academic background in biomedical science and international law, alongside my work and interests in climate change and infectious disease, reinforced my commitment to addressing the intersection of human health and environmental issues at the policy level.

While working at the WHO and studying global health law at Georgetown, I recognized how international law failed to address the intersection of environmental and health challenges, particularly around biodiversity loss and climate change. The Planetary Health framework offered a way to connect these global challenges, leading me to develop a course on Planetary Health Law. Joining Johns Hopkins allowed me to collaborate with like-minded experts in an institution dedicated to addressing these issues through a systems lens, aligning with my career-long goal of integrating health and environmental solutions.

Tell us about your Planetary Health work at JHU

Much of my work at JHIPH focuses on advancing Planetary Health within global policy spaces by advancing Planetary Health norms and fostering collaboration, with researchers, civil society, and intergovernmental organizations. This work has included engaging with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the role of human rights frameworks in advancing Planetary Health, including the right to a healthy environment; collaborating with representatives from the World Health Organization on efforts to integrate health into global climate legal proceedings; and advocating for the inclusion of Planetary Health principles, including equity, in international treaty negotiations to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, and protect ocean biodiversity.

My work also focuses on strengthening connections between researchers and policymakers and translating scientific evidence into actionable policies at local, national, and global levels. Through JHIPH’s Policy Research Accelerator, we advance this mission by creating opportunities for policy engagement, responding to policy consultations, and providing training on policy processes and emerging issues.

What excites you about the future of Planetary Health at JHU?

What has always drawn me to Planetary Health is not simply the recognition that our health and the health of the Earth’s natural systems are deeply interdependent and indivisible, but that it offers pathways for embedding that perspective into change. I believe there is no sustainable path forward for humanity without a Planetary Health approach—one that embraces the complexity of the interconnected challenges we face and centers equity, Indigenous perspectives, and diverse ways of knowing. Planetary Health requires us to address the unequal distribution of both the benefits and burdens resulting from environmental degradation and human activities, while moving beyond narrow, short-term solutions toward systems-based thinking. This approach has the potential to shape a future focused on equitable flourishing—one that supports the health of people and the planet together.