Oregon PSR would not be able to engage in our work so effectively without the efforts of our dedicated volunteers. In this section of our website, we would like to acknowledge just a few of our stand-out volunteers for their efforts, and we appreciate everyone who helps us make this critically important work for a healthier and more peaceful world possible. Thank you!
Isabelle Cetas, Environmental Health Working Group Member
Isabelle worked with Oregon PSR's Environmental Health working group recently to write a factsheet on the health effects of airborne diesel particulate matter. She also helped organize Oregon PSR's delegation to the Clean Air Lobby Day in Salem in February 2017. Isabelle graduated with distinction from Whitman College in May of 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Humanities. She believes that Oregon PSR is unceasing in their advocacy, and she values our organization's ability to collaborate with other organizations and community members to effect meaningful and lasting change in both urban and rural settings all over Oregon.
Marilee Dea, MS, RN, CPNP, Healthy Climate Action Team Member
Marilee is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner who has been involved with Oregon PSR since our founding. In the 1980’s she worked at Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center where, along with her roommate (and Oregon PSR founding member) Dr. Karen Steingart, she became concerned with the nuclear threat. After hearing Dr. Helen Caldicott speak, she was driven to raise awareness about toxins in the environment. Working with migrant workers at the time, she was concerned for their health and the health and safety of their communities. Marilee began her nursing career in a lead poisoning prevention program, and she supports Oregon PSR because we are science and research based, and people trust health professionals who speak their truth based on research. Marilee is currently involved in the renewable energy revolution, and she draws inspiration from making her activism fun and engaging through flash mobs and other theatrical events.
Maxine Fookson, PNP, Peace Working Group Member
Maxine was introduced to PSR in 1982 on her first day of Nurse Practitioner graduate school at the University of Washington, where she was asked to join Nurses Alliance for the Prevention for Nuclear War. In 2011 she jumped back into this work through Washington PSR’s Gaza project, which Oregon PSR supports. She is now active in responding to crises of immigration, Islamophobia, and police surveillance, as well as working on the Mustafa fund to highlight the health impacts of war. She believes that health professionals have a privileged place in our communities that should be used to lift up intersectional issues. Maxine can also be found working with women and children experiencing substance abuse recovery and homelessness with Central City Concern.
Margie Kircher, MS, OT, Environmental Health Working Group Member
Margie has spent over 25 years as an occupational therapist working with children in special education in Vancouver, WA. She has personally noticed a sharp increase in kids suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, ADHD, and learning impairments. Margie works tirelessly with Oregon PSR to document and speak about the connections between those disorders and prenatal exposure to environmental toxins such as endocrine disrupting chemicals, heavy metals, and particulate matter from fossil fuel combustion. Margie says that her driving motivation is a concern for the well-being of children and future generations. We applaud Margie for her steadfast hard work on protecting neurological health!
Piper Nash, Oregon PSR Environmental Health Working Group
Piper, a third year medical student from Bend, OR, had this to say about her work with Oregon PSR: "I have been amazed by how active Oregon PSR members are and by how many projects are being run simultaneously. It seems like Oregon PSR is consistently up-to-date and working hard to protect the health of Oregon communities, the state’s natural environment, and the way of life so many Oregonians enjoy. I believe that climate change is the greatest threat to health that humans face, and volunteering with Oregon PSR helps me fulfill a need, beyond treating individual patients when they become sick, of improving the health of our community."
Akash Singh, Oregon PSR Volunteer
Akash is a Student Fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Solutions, a scientist with PSU's STAR Research Lab, and the Environmental Justice Organizer at Neighbors for Clean Air. He represents the NAACP and the Environmental Justice Task Force for the Cleaner Air Oregon regulatory initiative. Through his work, Akash has realized that there is an unfortunate lack of highlighting how social issues such as immigration policy, the refugee crisis, and police brutality have public health consequences. He sees Oregon PSR as a community champion in bridging that gap by connecting critical social issues and the public health paradigm. He is ecstatic to bring his skills to organizations and coalitions, committed to social justice, that improve the lives of marginalized communities.
Dr. Bill Wiist, DHSc, MPH, MS
Bill is a PSR member living in Newport, Oregon. The central focus of his work over the past decade has been issues of injustice resulting from the influence and power of corporations on health and democracy. His new book, Preventing War and Promoting Health: A Guide for Health Professionals, a project that began among Dr. Wiist and his colleagues on the American Public Health Association's Public Health Working Group on Primary Prevention of War, will be coming out this September. Bill has been active in Oregon PSR's coalition work to pass the Clean Energy Jobs bill in the Oregon Legislature.