What inspired your interest in Planetary Health?

As the child of immigrant parents, I inherited a deep love and respect for the environment in the same way I inherited my Filipino lineage. My parents’ close physical, economic, and emotional proximity to the natural world shaped the way they raised me. Though I never saw my grandfather’s fishing business firsthand, I understood its role in economically and nutritionally sustaining my family and coastal communities in general. And while I never had to wade through knee-deep floodwaters to reach school, I grew up aware of how natural disasters could disrupt safety, education, and daily life. I was also raised with a culturally rooted sense of gratitude– one that instilled a deep appreciation for the natural systems that support life and a responsibility to protect them for others and for future generations.

This deeply rooted environmental consciousness, combined with my academic interest in health– particularly Public Health– paved the way for my passion for Planetary Health. This field not only examines how human actions reshape the environment, but also how those changes come back to affect our health, often in unequal and unjust ways.

Tell us about your Planetary Health work at JHU

I work as the Communications Specialist at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health, where I support initiatives such as this collection of Planetary Health stories. I see my role as helping to grow the Planetary Health movement by increasing awareness of Planetary Health knowledge and concepts, connecting individuals to one another to foster the transdisciplinary scholarship to move the field forward, and documenting the work of our institute and community members as a way of demonstrating what is possible. Given the broad nature of Planetary Health, my goal is to help people see themselves as part of the field, regardless of their background, and to highlight tangible examples of what Planetary Health looks like in practice.

What excites you about the future of Planetary Health?

What excites me most about the field of Planetary Health is its power to bring people together. It not only encourages collaboration– it prioritizes breaking down disciplinary silos to tackle some of humanity’s most pressing challenges. It’s both inspiring and energizing to work alongside faculty, staff, and students from public health, medicine, nursing, education, business, engineering, and beyond, and to witness the connections that emerge when experts are given the space and time to collaboratively problem solve.

Taking the concept of Planetary Health Cities as an example, it’s remarkable to see how this work bridges fields like real estate, finance, construction, transportation, air quality, and epidemiology, among many others. It’s a vivid demonstration of how holistic, cross-sector collaboration can drive innovative and impactful solutions.