Julie Jacobson Vann receives grant from UNC Center for Galapagos Studies

A woman with straight, shoulder-length light brown hair smiles at the camera. She is wearing a black top and gold earrings. The background is softly blurred with warm tones.

Julie Jacobson Vann, PhD, MS, RN, has been awarded $6,500 from the UNC Center for Galapagos Studies’s Galapagos Seed Grant Program for a project titled “Assessing the Perceived Health Risks, Needs, Solutions, and Preparedness of Galápagos Residents Related To Planetary Health.”

Jacobson Vann will work collaboratively on the project with Natalia Villegas Rodriguez, PhD, MSN, RN, IBCLC, FAAN and recent UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health graduate Hanna Brosky, PhD, to seek to understand more about pollution concerns among residents of the Galápagos.

This project will use a qualitative descriptive study aimed at eliciting perceptions from a sample of Galápagos residents about effects of environmental pollutants on their health and wellbeing, solutions, and capacity-building needs to help address concerns. The team will supplement these data by conducting a guided windshield survey to observe and document planetary health concerns.