Staff
Program Coordinator
Caspen Black, 2022 - Present
info@montanahphc.org
Caspen was born and raised on a family farm in Montana. Before becoming Program Coordinator, they served as an AmeriCorps VISTA for a Montana healthcare nonprofit where they coordinated new programs and events, and as a social science researcher for the Forest Service, where they studied community-based participatory research methods. They believe that when patients and providers work together as equals, we can build a more just, effective, and adaptable health system. They are also a figure skater, weaver, and aquarium hobbyist.
info@montanahphc.org
Caspen was born and raised on a family farm in Montana. Before becoming Program Coordinator, they served as an AmeriCorps VISTA for a Montana healthcare nonprofit where they coordinated new programs and events, and as a social science researcher for the Forest Service, where they studied community-based participatory research methods. They believe that when patients and providers work together as equals, we can build a more just, effective, and adaptable health system. They are also a figure skater, weaver, and aquarium hobbyist.
Outreach Coordinator
Julia Ryder 2023 - Present
MPH Candidate, U.M.
Bozeman, Montana |[email protected]
Julia is creating educational materials, Montana-specific of healthcare workers. She is an RN at Bozeman Health, mom to a toddler, and an MPH Candidate at UM. Her passion for Mother Nature developed in her twenties living outdoors as a back- country guide in Moab, Utah. This experienced taught her first hand that people become healthier when they have a connection to nature. For the past decade she has worked in the local Emergency Department as a registered nurse. She earned her Bachelors of Science from Southern Utah University, and in 2015, received a certificate in Emergency Medicine. She is currently in a graduate program through Montana State University studying what she is most passionate about: bridging the gap between human health and our natural environment.
MPH Candidate, U.M.
Bozeman, Montana |[email protected]
Julia is creating educational materials, Montana-specific of healthcare workers. She is an RN at Bozeman Health, mom to a toddler, and an MPH Candidate at UM. Her passion for Mother Nature developed in her twenties living outdoors as a back- country guide in Moab, Utah. This experienced taught her first hand that people become healthier when they have a connection to nature. For the past decade she has worked in the local Emergency Department as a registered nurse. She earned her Bachelors of Science from Southern Utah University, and in 2015, received a certificate in Emergency Medicine. She is currently in a graduate program through Montana State University studying what she is most passionate about: bridging the gap between human health and our natural environment.
2024 Yale Summer Climate Intern
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Hannah Mark
2024 Yale Climate Intern Hardin, Montana l hannah.mark@montanahphc.org Hannah Mark grew up in Hardin, Montana. She is a rising senior at Yale University where she studies journalism, the history of science, medicine and public health, and is working on an MPH. She is passionate about effectively communicating scientific knowledge to the public and telling stories about how science affects people. |
Board
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Lori G. Byron, MD, practiced pediatrics for 27 years on the Crow Indian Reservation. Now retired from Indian Health Service, she continues to work as a Pediatric Hospitalist in a private hospital and work largely on environmental issues. She and her husband, Robert Byron, work through several organizations on climate advocacy. She co-leads the Citizen’s Climate Lobby Health Team with Robert. She recently served on the Children’s Health Advisory Committee to the EPA and the Executive Committee of the Environmental Health Council at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). She organizes a group of pediatrician climate advocates representing every AAP Chapter. She earned a MS from Johns Hopkins in Energy Policy and Climate in 2020. She is an avid bicyclist, gardener, and cook.
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Dr. Robert Byron is an internist who has practiced for over two decades on the Crow Indian Reservation. A founding member of the Bighorn Valley Health Center, a federally qualified health center in eastern Montana, he is also former governor for the Montana Chapter of the American College of Physicians. Rob co-chairs the Citizens Climate Lobby Health Team and is on the executive committee of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. He is a strong advocate for addressing climate change with emphasis on the public health and environmental justice aspects.
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Beth Schenk serves as the Executive Director of Environmental Stewardship for Providence, one of the nation’s largest non-profit health systems. Beth is an assistant research professor at Washington State University College of Nursing. She led the development of CHANT: Climate and Health Tool, measuring health professionals’ awareness and engagement with climate change and health, now translated to several languages and used in over 30 nations. She developed the WE ACT Framework (Waste, Energy/water, Agriculture/food, Chemicals, Transportation) to organize the extensive range of environmental stewardship, while motivating action. She is active at national, state, and local levels, serving on the boards of The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, and Climate Smart Missoula. She hosts the Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast, now in its fifth season. Beth has been honored with the Charlotte Brody Award, as a distinguished alumnus from the University of Montana.
She is driven by her personal passion to conserve our natural world while building better health. She celebrates the joy of living in Montana with her family, friends, and pets – hiking, gardening, knitting, and playing music. |
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Lynne Foss, PNP 2024-present
Secretary Belgrade, Montana | As a pediatric nurse practitioner, I am proudly working in the communities of Belgrade and Bozeman Montana. Twenty three of my 35 year career was spent serving in the United States Air Force working with military children and their families. One of my military assignments was in Great Falls Montana and I was fortunate to return to Montana permanently in 2010. My commitment to working with climate issues started over 30 years ago on a personal level. Recently, I have been more active in vocalizing my concerns and in educating families about the impact of the warming climate on the health of children, especially given the impact of air quality from the increasing frequency of wildfires. |
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Anita Lowe Taylor, MD, is a recent graduate in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation from Stanford who now practices as a full-time physician in Helena, MT. She serves on the Public Policy Committee of the Association of Academic Physiatrists, where she aims to incorporate climate change into policy advocacy for people with disabilities. She also serves on the steering committee for the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. She spends her free time hiking, backpacking, skiing, painting, and spoiling her two rescue cats.
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Jennifer Robohm, PhD 2021 - Present
Missoula, Montana | jsremail@gmail.com Jen Robohm is a licensed clinical psychologist and a Clinical Professor of Behavioral Medicine for the University of Montana Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana (FMRWM), where she prepares family physicians for practice in rural and underserved communities in Montana. With a colleague in the UM Skaggs School of Pharmacy, Jen is helping to coordinate a training project for undergraduates, health care trainees, and practicing health professionals in Montana around the health impacts of climate change. She is currently a Bloomberg Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, seeking an MPH degree to enhance her effectiveness in addressing climate change. Jen received her BA from Yale University and her PhD from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). |
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Hayley Blackburn, PharmD, BCACP, BC-ADM 2021 - Present
Missoula, Montana | hayley.blackburn@montanahphc.org Dr. Hayley Blackburn is a clinical pharmacist and Assistant Professor at the University of Montana Skaggs School of Pharmacy within the University of Montana College of Health. She trains students in pharmacy and other health professions through interprofessional didactic coursework and experiential learning, including global health and planetary health experiences, and directs a postgraduate fellowship program to train early career pharmacists in providing pharmacy care in rural Montana. She is passionate about health professions education and multidisciplinary approaches to training and healthcare innovation, particularly at the intersection of climate change and human health in Montana. Dr. Blackburn is also a co-founder of Rx for Climate, an international web-based network promoting climate-smart pharmacy practice. |
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Allison Young, MD, FAAP 2022 - Present
Missoula, Montana | allison.young@montanahphc.org Allison Young, MD is a primary care pediatrician with the Western Montana Clinic in Missoula, MT. She has been active in the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics since moving to Montana in 2010 and currently serves on the Executive Committee as a Member At Large, and the Climate Subcommittee. She was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar from 2018-2021 with a focus on collaborative uses of telemedicine to improve access to pediatric care in rural Montana. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a degree Medical Anthropology in 2000 and returned to Harvard for medical school before moving West to complete residency at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She is passionate about health equity and is shifting her focus toward understanding and addressing the health impacts of climate change. In her freetime she enjoys playing in the mountains with her husband and daughter – on foot, bike or skis. |
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Rebecca Pejak, MPH CHES 2024 - Present
Student Representative Missoula, Montana | Rebecca is a PhD Student in Public Health at the University of Montana, where she works with faculty on indoor air quality research. She is passionate about climate-related health impacts and heat-related summer changes. Rebecca also has her MPH from the University of Montana and a B.S. in Public Health from Northern Arizona University. Before graduate school, Rebecca worked as a COVID-19 Health Educator for the CDC Foundation and an Opioid Use Disorder Counselor. Rebecca enjoys camping, pool, pickleball, and spending time outdoors with her friends. |
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Nick Silverman, PhD, PE. 2019 - 2023
Science Advisor Missoula, Montana | nick.silverman@montanahphc.org Nick Silverman is a Faculty Affiliate and Adjunct Professor at the University of Montana in Geosciences and the College of Forestry. His academic research focuses on identifying hydroclimatic trends in mountainous landscapes and the interactions between water, climate, and vegetation. Nick has a background in Physics and Engineering and is a licensed Civil and Water Resources Engineer in the State of Montana. He received a PhD in Hydroclimatology from the University of Montana in 2014 and led the climate analysis for the 2017 Montana State Climate Assessment. Currently, Nick works around Montana and the greater Pacific Northwest on projects that help land managers build adaptive capacity to solve food, water, and energy challenges related to climate change.
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Committee Leads
Communications Committee
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Hillery Daily, ND
Hillery Daily is a Naturopathic Doctor and Acupuncturist who has lived in
Montana’s Bitterroot Valley for over three decades. After practicing over twenty years in Hamilton, she worked in an integrative medicine setting with Medical Doctors and other health care providers, both in Montana and at a tribal clinic in Alaska. Post retirement, she helped found Bitterroot Climate Action Group and served as board member and chair. Currently, she is co-chair of MTHPHC Communication Committee. Along with her husband, family and friends, she enjoys hiking, backpacking, bicycling and all forms of skiing. Communications Team members:
Hillery Daily, N.D., L. Ac., Hamilton Emory Hoelscher-Hull, student, Montana State University Collette Kirchoff, M.D., FAACP, Bozeman Michelle Uberuaga, Moms Clean Air Force, Livingston |
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MtHPHC is working with other MT organizations and the Region VIII EPA to increaeadoption of EV School Busses in MT. Diesel busses in the US cause over 2 million lost school days every year! Havre MT had the first EV bus on the ground and they LOVE it! Billings has ordered 8 of them!
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MT Youth Climate Summit - Allison Young
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The first youth climate summit in Montana was held in Livingston in 2023. Park High School students organized the two-day event for more than 40 young leaders. Read more in the Livingston Enterprise.
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Prior Board Members
Paul Smith, DO, Pediatrica Pulmonology, Missoula 2019-2019
Prior to moving to Montana in 2010, Dr. Smith lived and trained in the Midwest. His undergraduate degree was from Anderson University in Indiana, medical degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Missouri and pediatric residency in Columbus, Ohio. His fellowship was a four-year dual fellowship in Pediatric Critic Care and Pulmonology through Case Western Reserve University and Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland. He remained there for over 20 years while conducting research in asthma with funding from the NIH, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and American Lung Association. After his 2 children graduated from college, he decided to move to enjoy Montana’s scenery and outdoor sports. His present practice is focused on Pediatric lung diseases including bronchoscopy and ICU work. He continues research on the effects of environmental smoke on children’s health through the University of Montana. He is the Director of the Montana Pediatric Clinical Trials Network under the Environmental Influences On Childhood Health Outcomes (ECHO) program funded by the NIH.
Tom Roberts,MD, FACP, Missoula MT 2019-2020
Dr. Tom Roberts practiced general Internal Medicine with subspecialty interests in geriatrics and HIV medicine from 1980 through 2013. For 15 years he was President and Medical Director of the Western Montana Clinic, a 40 physician multi-specialty medical group in Missoula, ending in October of 2014. He helped found the Montana Health CO-OP and was its first Board Chair and Medical Director. He has served as a board member of the Missoula City-County Health Department and with the Executive Committee of the Montana Medical Association. Currently retired, he travels, skis, mountain bikes, and rafts. He participates on the Missoula Air Quality Advisory Council and serves as a board member of Blue Mountain Clinic.
Julia Ryder, BSN, RN, CEN 2019-2020
May passion for Mother Nature developed in my twenties living outdoors as a backcountry guide in Moab, Utah. This experienced taught me first hand that people become healthier when they have a connection to nature. For the past seven years I have worked in the local Emergency Department as a registered nurse. I earned my Bachelors of Science from Southern Utah University, and in 2015 I received my Certificate in Emergency Medicine.
I am currently in a graduate program through Montana State University studying what I am most passionate about: Bridging the gap between human health and our natural environment. I have also begun working with Health Care Without Harm an organization that offers the Nurses Climate Challenge. The Nurses Climate Challenged has given me the tools and opportunity to present to my fellow health care professionals the health effects of climate change on our community, our patients, and our loved ones. This past year has been a year of environmental success. A proposal written by myself, and a colleague that asked my local hospital, Bozeman Health Deaconess, to have a Green Team was accepted. As a co-chair to this new Green Team I am excited to see the positive changes that will be made.
On my days off, and with my wonderful partner, Pete, I play outside as much as possible to savor the wonderful planet that we were given.
Ronni Flannery, JD 2019-2021
As the American Lung Association’s Healthy Air Campaign Director in Montana, Ronni directs clean air and climate change work in the state with an emphasis on Clean Air Act defense and advancing clean energy policies at the state and federal level. Ronni graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School, Cum Laude, and has provided legal services to organizational and tribal clients on a wide range of issues, including air quality regulation. She presently serves on the Missoula City-County Air Quality Advisory Council and the Montana Public Health Association’s Advocacy and Policy Committee.
Sarah Lorch, EMT, CNA 2019-2021
Sarah is a senior nursing student at MSU Bozeman is a Breckenridge, Colorado native who pursued Montana State for academia, the engaging and down-to-earth community of Bozeman, and the incredible access to outdoor activities such as skiing, climbing, running and backpacking. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau Nurses Honor Society and the Sunrise Movement and hopes to connect her passion for public narrative storytelling and building leadership skills with her passion of connecting environmental and human health. Sarah realizes the value of her position as a student in healthcare for inspiring other young adults to get engaged in climate activism and environmental justice. Her plan involves acting as a bridge between healthcare professionals and community members of any age and background. Within her nursing profession she has dreams of helping decrease the carbon footprint of healthcare delivery to ensure care is provided without harm. As a co-chair, she aims to discover new tools and connections for sharing her ideas and facilitating community projects.
Mari Eggers, MA, MS, PhD. 2019-2022
Mari Eggers is an environmental health research assistant professor at Montana State University Bozeman (MSU). She previously lived on the Crow Reservation, where she taught science at the Tribal College for a decade. Since 2005, Eggers has been working with Crow colleagues and others to conduct community-engaged research and mitigation to reduce exposure to waterborne contaminants in diverse water sources, improve access to safe drinking water, and understand the impacts of climate change on local water resources and hence health. Eggers teaches in and coordinates the environmental health (EH) degree program at MSU, including advising and mentoring students in diverse EH research projects. She also teaches the Introduction to Global Health course at MSU, serves on the Gallatin City-County Board of Health and its Environmental Health Committee, and is working with the Montana Institute on Ecosystems on their Climate Change and Human Health assessment for our state. Eggers has an interdisciplinary BA and an MA from Stanford University, an MS in Ecology (MSU), and a PhD and post-doc in environmental health from MSU.
Marian Kummer, MD, FAAP. 2021 - 2024
I had the privilege of practicing primary care pediatrics in Billings for 36 years. My area of interest was children with special health care needs. I served on numerous community and state boards and was president of the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Since retirement my interests have shifted toward the environment. I have taken the Climate Reality Course, participating in Univ. of Montana health/climate course, and become active in Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL). Another focus has been actively advocating for pediatric, public health, and climate change interests during the 2021 Montana legislative session.
Chelsea Kuiper MA, 2022 - 2024, Student Representative
Chelsea is a PhD Student in Public Health at the University of Montana, where she engages in mixed-methods research aimed at advancing global health equity. She is a co-founder of Montana Student Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, UM’s student chapter of Montana HPHC. She is passionate about collaborating with University of Montana students and community members to raise awareness about the health effects of climate change. Before graduate school, Chelsea worked as a seasonal ranger for the National Park Service, doing educational programming exploring the complex interactions between social, cultural, and natural systems. She holds a BA in Anthropology from Colorado College and an MA in Applied Sociocultural Anthropology from Northern Arizona University.
Rebecca Elderkin, MPH, CHES 2022 - 2024
Rebecca serves All Nations Health Center in Missoula, Montana as the Emergency Preparedness and Resilience Coordinator. She received her MPH with a concentration in Community Health and Prevention Sciences from the University of Montana. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist. Rebecca co-founded Mazí Health Consultants to promote community health in special populations through health needs assessments, health program development and evaluation. She is passionate about health equity and justice that is centered on individual experiences and community relationships. She received her BA from the University of Dayton, where her studies in Political Science and Russian History concentrated on global human rights.