Listening to Puerto Rico Teach-Out

Sue Anne Bell is a Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Michigan. Dr. Bell is a nurse scientist and family nurse practitioner, with expertise in disaster response, community health and emergency care. Her research focuses broadly on the health effects of disasters and the impact of climate change on human health within a health equity framework. She is particularly interested in the long-term impact of disasters on human’s health, in developing policy that protects and promotes health throughout the disaster management cycle, and in the relationship between community resilience, health disparities and disasters. She is active in multiple emergency preparedness and response activities, including serving on federal panels, co-authoring books and advising on national policy issues. Dr. Bell has practiced nursing and conducted research in multiple global settings including Ghana, Ethiopia, India, Cambodia and the Caribbean.

Dr. Perry Samson is an Arthur F Thurnau Professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the College of Engineering, and a Professor of Information at the School of Information at the University of Michigan. Professor Samson co-founded the Weather Underground with Jeff Masters in 1995, which was the first online weather service. His special areas of research include air quality, meteorological analysis and interpretation of atmospheric trace constituents, regional-scale transport and deposition of air pollutants Education, use of visualization in survey-level science classes, and Development of Internet-enabled learning objects.

In this conversation, Sue Anne talks with Perry about her experiences working as a Nurse Practitioner with the National Disaster Response Team in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. She speaks about the on-the-ground challenges that her and her team faced in Puerto Rico.