the NUANCE // a community health podcast.

In this podcast episode, we speak with Dr. Jessi Gold. Jessi Gold, MD, MS is the Chief Wellness Officer of the University of Tennessee System and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.  This inaugural leadership position encompasses all five University of Tennessee campuses and includes over 62,200 students and 19,0000 faculty and staff.  In her clinical practice, she sees healthcare workers, trainees, and young adults in college. Dr. Gold is also a fierce mental health advocate and highly sought-after expert in the media on everything from burnout to celebrity self-disclosure. She has written widely for the popular press, including for The New York Times, The Atlantic, InStyle, Slate, and Self.  Her first book, HOW DO YOU FEEL? One Doctor's Search for Humanity in Medicine is a national bestseller and available now. Dr. Gold is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. and M.S in Anthropology, the Yale School of Medicine, and Stanford University Department of Psychiatry, where she served as Chief Resident.

Nina Simons is Co-founder and Chief Relationship Officer at Bioneers, and leads its Everywoman’s Leadership program. Throughout her career spanning the nonprofit, social entrepreneurship, corporate, and philanthropic sectors, Nina has worked with nearly a thousand diverse women leaders across disciplines, race, class, age and orientation to create conditions for mutual learning, trust and leadership development. She loves convening – for mutual mentorship and shedding conditioning, and to explore methods and practices for reinventing leadership, reclaiming our whole selves, connecting across difference and co-creating communities of belonging. Nina co-edited (with Anneke Campbell) Moonrise: The Power of Women Leading from the Heart, and authored Nature, Culture, and the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership with an accompanying discussion guide and embodied practices, which won Nautilus awards in the categories of Women in the 21st Century and Social Change & Social Justice.She’s also a contributor to the anthology Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices. All three are being used to ignite liberatory learning in individuals, circles and classrooms. Find more about Nina hereFind more about bioneers here

Dr. Beverly L. Wright is an award-winning environmental justice scholar, advocate, author, civic leader, professor of Sociology, and the Founder and Executive Director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ), the first-ever environmental justice center in the United States. Born and raised in New Orleans, Dr. Wright has experienced and witnessed the polluting effects of Cancer Alley–an 85-mile stretch of land between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that is home to over 150 petrochemical plants and refineries– her entire life.This conversation focuses on solidarity, mutual aid, and the practice of joy. We discuss the widening racial and economic divide, the need for healing, and Dr. Wright’s powerful legacy in environmental justice and how the petrochemical industry is degrading the spirit of LouisianaFind more about Dr. Wright on the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice website: https://dscej.org/beverly-wright/

Disclaimer: The term woman is frequently used in this episode and Kanwal’s book Taking Care of You, to refer to the target audience, although the material discussed applies to anyone with a uterus, cervix, or vagina. We recognize that not all people with these body parts identify as a woman and that not all people who identify as a woman have these body partsKanwal Haq is dedicated to improving health and care for women across the world. With 17+ years of experience working in various healthcare roles and spaces, Kanwal brings dedication, creativity, and humility to keep learning and moving forward. Kanwal founded TCY Women to build better tools, resources, and systems of care to support women’s health, across the lifespan. Kanwal completed her B.S. in biology from the University of Missouri, her M.S. in medical anthropology from Boston University, and is working on her PhD in public health at UTHealth. Kanwal is the co-author of “Taking Care of You: The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Better Health (Mayo Clinic Press 2022). Kanwal’s rural midwestern roots cultivated her passion to make health education and care both accessible and appropriate for every woman.When we look at the research, a clear pattern emerges — women and gender diverse people are too often dismissed, undertreated, and left behind by our healthcare system. The 2024 KFF Women’s Health Survey found that one in three women reported being ignored or disbelieved by a healthcare provider, and data from the PNAS (2024) study showed that clinicians consistently rated women’s pain as less severe than men’s for the same symptoms. Together, these studies tell a sobering truth — gender bias is not anecdotal, it’s structural. 

We had a beautiful community gathering for Sun Day, celebrating the power of green energy while centering environmental justice in the green energy transition. Thank you to all of the community members and organizations that made it possible! We had 3 speakers at the event: Chedaya Brown, PhD student:Investigating dual-use solar initiatives and renewable energy policy and implementation through an environmental justice lensDr. Loraine Lundquist, PhD has a  PhD in physics, and teaches sustainability – economic, social, and scientific solutions at California State University, Northridge, she is the chair of the Board of Directors for LA ForwardKevin Briseno rising sophomore who is studying Physiology and Environmental Sciences. He is a member of the Youth advisory board at Youth on Root. 

Artist Shelley Bruce is a 4th generation, Black Los Angelino, sharing her service work with a focus on the arts, healing and activism. With two Bachelors in Ethnic Studies and Fine Art, for nearly 20 years, Shelley has performed poetry at hundreds of shows, directed nonprofit organizations, and organized social justice programs throughout Southern California. She has most notably traveled to Washington DC, New York, Ghana, London, Barcelona, and across Southern California sharing her artistic expression. Her first book of poetry titled On Blooming (2018) first poetry album Heaven Here (2021), and newest poetry EP “MVP.iii” (2024) reflect some of her published bodies of work. Shelley is also the founder of grassroots movements Day of Healing and BIPOC cultural production company The Heart Dept. Her central focus is to create wellbeing for all people through compassion-centered, sustainable movements.theheartdept.cowww.instagram.com/artistshelleybruce

Jeff Share’s research and practice focuses on preparing educators to teach critical media literacy and environmental justice. He was an award-winning photojournalist and bilingual elementary school teacher. Since 2007 he has taught at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the School of Education and Information Studies. Jeff has written several books including: Media Literacy is Elementary: Teaching Youth to Critically Read and Create Media, Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents: Reading, Writing, and Making a Difference, The Critical Media Literacy Guide: Engaging Media and Transforming Education, and For the Love of Nature: Ecowriting the World. Jeff is a Fulbright and Language Specialist who has provided professional development to educators in the US, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. His personal website:  https://jshare.wixsite.com/jeffshare

Patricia Plude, D.Min. is a teacher, musician, organizer, and pastor. She is an educational consultant for Radical Listening with Health In Harmony, a certified leader of Interplay, and a leader with Faith in Action, a network of congregations and community leaders organizing to uphold the dignity of all people in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more than forty years she has taught people across the lifespan, including elementary-age children, students of higher education, and seasoned teachers looking to enrich their pedagogy. Pat lives in San Francisco with her husband, where they raised two beloved children, now young adults.Link to their website and book, "The Art of Radical Listening: Revealing Collective Wisdom for Change."  https://radicallistening.org/#page-top

Gem Montes is a Policy Analyst and Advocate at the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice (PCEJ) in the Inland Empire. Upon realizing that the City of Colton, which experiences some of the worst air in the nation, has little to no public access air monitoring information, she partnered with PCEJ to create a Community-Based Participatory Research project called The Air I Breathe. Gem is a leader in grassroot advocacy. In 2022, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Riverside’s School of Public Policy. While there, she received a fellowship with the University of California’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative as an Engagement Fellow. Immediately afterwards, she received a fellowship with the California Climate Action Corps as a Heat Rezilient Fellow at Pauma Tribal Farms. Notably, she has accrued multiple certifications in tribal subjects. Gem’s broad range of education and experience has allowed her to successfully navigate complex relationships and establish trust with government agencies, tribal affiliates, environmental organizations and community members. Her passion and commitment to finding solutions for the injustices imposed upon frontline communities results in work that is second to none. At an age when most are retiring, she remains eager to learn and continues to be a force to be reckoned with.

Dr. Wendy Johnson is a family physician, writer, photographer and community activist whose career includes stints scaling up HIV treatment in Mozambique, overseeing a large urban public health department and, most recently, directing a community clinic in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her work has been published in McSweeney’s, The Nation, and newspapers in Cleveland, Seattle and Santa Fe. She spends most of her spare time cultivating and rewilding her acre and a half homestead, and writing about health justice and the intersection of human and environmental wellbeing. To learn more about Dr. Johnson and a link to her new book, Kinship Medicine: Cultivating Interdependence to Heal the Earth and Ourselves: https://wendyjohnsonmd.com