What inspired your interest in Planetary Health?

My interest in Planetary Health was initially sparked over 10 years ago when I first encountered the term through one of my colleagues. At first, I was skeptical, wondering if it was simply another name for Environmental Health or a passing trend. The movement of the Planetary Health Alliance to Johns Hopkins University and the launch of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health, however, provided me with an opportunity to reconnect and explore the field’s unique breadth.

What sets Planetary Health apart for me now is in its framing of the interrelationships, the inextricable relationships, between the health of the planet and the health of people. It’s very action oriented; I love that Planetary Health is both a field and a powerful social movement, with people from all over the world talking about, teaching, and moving Planetary Health forward.

Tell us about your Planetary Health work at JHU

One of my key areas of focus as Co-director for JHIPH’s Education program is the integration of Planetary Health into education across JHU. This process begins by assessing where Planetary Health is currently being taught—identifying courses that explicitly mention it and those that are “Planetary Health adjacent” (covering concepts that fit under the umbrella of Planetary Health but may not use the specific terminology). This mapping helps us establish where the university is at in terms of teaching Planetary Health and where there are areas for improvement.

It also lays the foundation for future work to support faculty interested in incorporating Planetary Health into their teaching. Ultimately, the goal is to make it an easy choice, whether that involves connecting faculty to global guides, strategies, and frameworks on Planetary Health education, or providing practical support such as syllabus reviews, reading suggestions, and lecture slides.

What excites you about the future of Planetary Health?

One of the things that gives me the most hope is that Planetary Health is both a bottom-up and top-down initiative. On Hylo, an online community for Planetary Health Alliance members, I’ve read countless stories of changemakers driving action at local and regional levels. At the same time, I see efforts at the highest levels of academia and policy spheres, with people at organizations like the World Health Organization and the United Nations discussing, researching, and working on Planetary Health issues. As these efforts continue to grow, I believe they will generate a momentum that will ultimately draw everyone into the movement.

More about Megan Weil Latshaw: 

Megan serves as the Director of the Master's degree programs in the Department of Environmental Health & Engineering (EHE) at Johns Hopkins University. EHE is a cross-divisional department that spans both the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Whiting School of Engineering, offering a variety of interdisciplinary graduate programs.

Consider joining us and studying at Johns Hopkins! Explore EHE Graduate Programs here: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/departments/environmental-health-and-engineering/programs/graduate-programs