Imagining a Healthier Planet: The Power of Creative Expression and Collective Healing

Christine Rodriguez

Associate Dean of Nursing Impact, Assistant Professor

Yale School of Nursing

Dr. Rodriguez is an Assistant Professor for the Graduate Entry Prespecialty Nursing Program and serves as the Assistant Dean for Simulation and Clinical Innovation at Yale School of Nursing. She has an expansive clinical background in 2SLGBTQIA+ healthcare, racial equity and social justice, simulation, religion, and spirituality, as well as medical cannabis. Dr. Rodriguez holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Applied Professional Studies from Nova Southeastern University, a Certificate in Faith Community Nursing from the University of Southern Indiana, a Master of Arts in Theological Studies and a Master of Divinity from Liberty University, a Master of Science in Nursing, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Connecticut. Having served as a healthcare chaplain and practitioner, Dr. Rodriguez was placed in the quintessential position to understand her patient’s needs by utilizing a biopsychosociospiritual framework. Such an approach amplified the inequities and disparities that are depicted within the healthcare system and religious/spiritual communities, specifically for folx of color. As an Afro-Indigenous scholar, her own lived experiences and this framework, allows her to relentlessly strive to advocate for the dismantling of the systemic oppressive ideologies found within our everyday lives. Her doctoral project titled, “The Affirmative Care Program: An Evidence-Based Educational Program for Clinicians to Meet the Healthcare Needs of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Patients” aimed to address the knowledge gaps witnessed within healthcare services for the transgender community and served as the basis for consultative services with hospitals, medical practices, and other clinical partnerships. The program encompassed five facets: 

• Diversity, health equity, inclusion, and belonging


• Microaggressions, implicit biases, and bystander intervention


• LGBTQIA+ definitions and terminology, chosen name and pronouns


• Gender affirming garments, gender affirming hormone therapy, and gender affirming surgeries


• Patient panel discussing their lived experiences both positive and negative within healthcare systems

AZA Allsop

Director of the Center for Collective Healing; Assistant Professor

Howard University; Yale School of Medicine

AZA Allsop is an artist, neuroscientist, and psychiatrist who conducts research at the intersection of social cognition, music mindfulness, and psychedelics. His research and clinical work is guided by the belief that decoding these tools will provide a better understanding of how social groups function and offer insights into treating mental suffering and enhancing the evolution of society at large. AZA studied Biology, Philosophy, and Jazz Studies at North Carolina Central University, received his MD from Harvard Medical School, PhD in Neuroscience from MIT and was an Emerson Scholar at Berklee College of Music. He completed his residency in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University where he served as co-chief resident of the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit and is currently an Assistant Professor in Yale’s Department of Psychiatry and Director of the Center for Collective Healing at Howard University. He teaches meditation, yoga, and music and co-founded Renaissance Entertainment and Mefreely, companies that combine music, science, and community building to drive social change.

Susan Prescott

Professor of Planetary Health; Director, Center for Planetary Consciousness and Global Flourishing

The University of Western Australia; Nova Institute for Health

Professor Susan Prescott, MD, PhD, is a pediatrician, immunologist, and an internationally acclaimed physician-scientist, well known for her cutting-edge research into the early environmental determinants of health and disease. Globally, she is recognized for her work on the interconnections between human health and planetary health and promoting mutualistic value systems for both ecological and social justice. She has a particular focus on immune health, and how this can be enhanced—for all aspects of wellbeing across the life course—through microbial biodiversity, healthy nutrition, stronger relationships with natural environments, and positive emotional assets. 

She works at the highest level of her profession internationally, with over 25 years of research experience. She is a former Director of the World Allergy Organisation (WAO), and former Head of Children’s Allergy Immunology Research at University of Western Australia. She is also the Founding President of the multidisciplinary DOHaD Society (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease) in Australia and New Zealand. Her early work as an immunologist, published in The Lancet, lead to a paradigm shift in understanding the importance of the early environment in immune programming for the risk of subsequent disease. She is also Director of the Nova Network.

In addition to over 300 scientific publications, Susan is also an artist and award-winning author of several books—The Allergy Epidemic, The Calling, Origins, and gold medal winning book The Secret Life of Your Microbiome. Her inspiration to study medicine came from her grandmother, one of the few women to study medicine in the 1930s.

She is a passionate advocate for social change and adopting a holistic approach to life. As an artist and award-winning author, she communicates these ideas, not only through the knowledge base of science but also through the inspiration of art. In finding common ground, she maintains that we can work together to address many global problems, recognizing the direct connections between personal and planetary health.

With this goal, she leads both local and global efforts towards improving personal and planetary health.