Student Spotlight: Samantha Lee
Adapting a Climate and Health Curriculum for Rhode Island K-12 Students
During the 2023–2024 academic year, Samantha Lee, a Master’s of Medical Sciences student at Brown University, received an NEPHTC Student Stipend to adapt a climate and health curriculum for K–12 students in Providence County. Lee incorporated her love for education and teaching (which she learned from her mother, a K-12 teacher) with her passion for climate change awareness, especially in coastal communities. The project built on earlier work she helped pilot in Baltimore as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University, where she studied neuroscience and sociology and participated in health education curriculum development through Medicine for the Greater Good’s Lung Health Ambassador Program.
After relocating to Providence for her graduate studies, Lee identified a need for locally focused climate and health materials and formed a partnership with the Providence Public School District (PPSD) and the Metropolitan Career and Technical Center (MET) High School to adapt the Health Effects of Climate Change Curriculum (HECCC). The schools’ STEM teams provided feedback on the curriculum’s adaptation to Providence County and facilitated implementation across schools. Materials were translated into multiple languages and teachers were connected with student volunteers from Brown University to teach the HECCC with lessons tailored to grade level and school scheduling needs.
The work also involved continued collaboration with partners at Johns Hopkins, allowing the curriculum to be piloted simultaneously in both Providence and Baltimore, with regular communication between sites to share improvements and results. Faculty support for the Providence adaptation came from Dr. Joanna Brown, a physician engaged in local climate and children’s health advocacy and a mother to children in the Providence Public School District. Lee noted that community partners were also a critical component to the initiative’s success, mentioning Food Smart RI, Rhode Island Environmental Education Association, and greenlight for girls (g4g) as major stakeholders in adapting the HECCC to be locally-focused and hosting one-time, special events (e.g. Earth Day celebrations) to expand the curriculum’s reach.
A major outcome of the project was a peer-reviewed publication documenting the curriculum’s development and local implementation. Lee authored a paper titled “Equipping future climate and health advocates: piloting a locally focused health effects of climate change curriculum in providence county schools”, published in BMC Public Health, which emphasizes the value of place-based content in climate and health education. The publication outlines the process, methods, and rationale behind adapting the curriculum to reflect local environmental data, such as projected sea-level rise in Providence County neighborhoods.
The NEPHTC stipend supported key components of the work, including materials, supplies, and compensation for teachers and community reviewers involved in adapting and piloting the curriculum. Funding also enabled teachers to be paid for classroom time dedicated to implementing the lessons, ensuring that adoption did not displace other required instructional content. In reflecting on her experience with the NEPHTC Student Stipend program, Lee said, “Support from the NEPHTC transformed my idea into a fully realized study to address the health effects of climate change [for] the next generation. I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to design, implement, and publish a locally focused project rooted in Providence County community perspectives that [have] inspired my pursuit of community-centered medicine and public health research.”
To promote sustainability beyond the stipend period, elements of the curriculum were transitioned to student organizations at Brown, one of which incorporated an abbreviated version into ongoing programming. While adoption varies across schools based on resources and priorities, the availability of a ready-to-use, locally focused curriculum and established student engagement mechanisms supports continued use.
Lee hopes to continue this kind of work in the future as she pursues graduate studies focused on locally based, community-focused health interventions to improve healthcare delivery services. In her current role, she is the Research Program Coordinator for the Massachusetts Institute for Excellence and Quality in Learning Health Systems (Mass EQLHS) whose partners collectively care for over 4 million (57%) of Massachusetts patients. Lee connects faculty and student scholars engaged in healthcare delivery services research with communities, students, and institutions to improve healthcare delivery and health outcomes for Massachusetts patients.
This project is one of many supported through the NEPHTC Student Stipend Program, which provides $3,500 to students pursuing public health-related field placements and collaborative projects that serve communities with limited access to care. Lee’s advice to future NEPHTC Student Stipend recipients was to take the chance and apply, and to utilize the certificate offerings through NEPHTC’s website to make yourself a more competitive applicant to future positions.
To learn more about the NEPHTC Student Stipend program, click here. Applications are now open!