Visiting Scholars

Nickie Burney is a 4^th year PhD candidate in the Connell School of Nursing at Boston College. Her research focuses on associations between diabetes outcomes and systemic, modifiable factors in hospital work environments. Individual studies in her dissertation examine associations between diabetes outcomes among hospitalized patients or hospital nursing personnel and conditions of work and other work-related factors.

In addition to her teaching pre-licensure nurses at the University of Southern Maine, Tara has surveyed fishermen and clammers through the Maine Harvester Study about their healthcare access and drug use. One of the concerning findings was that this population tends to delay seeking professional care because they perceive that the healthcare profession views them negatively. Thus, the program that Tara will undertake in collaboration with the Harvard Chan ERC, titled Maine Screens for Health, will include not only engaging pre-licensure nurses in health assessments in rural settings but will have a component that helps primary care providers understand the ethos and work ethic of fishermen and other rural workers in an effort to breakdown one of the barriers to healthcare access in Maine.

Tara has recently reported the findings of the Maine Community Health Worker (CHW) workforce at a conference organized by the  Northern New England Center for Research Translation. One finding of note is that primary care physicians are interested in considering having CHWs associated with their medical practices.

Douglas has a Master of Arts in Creative Arts Therapy with a concentration in Dance Movement Therapy. In his role as Director of Island Services, Douglas is responsible for the Maine Seacoast Mission’s programming on the unbridged islands off Maine’s coast, such as the Cranberry Isles, Frenchboro, Isle au Haut, Matinicus, and Monhegan. This programming includes activities that address health care and mental health as well as events that create community and reduce the isolation of island residents, most of whom are fishermen. ERC Outreach Director Ann Backus has provided fishing safety workshops for many multi-island events over the years.

As a Visiting Scholar, Douglas will have the opportunity to include evidence-based occupational safety and health concepts in Island Services’ healthcare programming and will contribute his knowledge of human movement to help other scholars expand their perspectives on the role of movement in maintaining health and avoiding injury.

Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin, PhD is an economist and statistician, and full professor at Polytechnique Montreal.  As president of CIRANO, a think tank that advises the Canadian government, she incorporates OSH into CIRANO’s work. In May 2024, she was invited to speak at the Northeast Occupational Health Surveillance Network (NEON), which is held in Chester, CT. Her topic was Artificial Intelligence: Potential implications and ethical considerations.

Steve Dickens, MA, is a clinical psychologist who recognized that Vermont farmers were experiencing stress from both economic and environmental pressures. To address the mental health of farmers, he founded FarmFirst, an EAP (Employee Assistance Program) for farmers that provides confidential counseling. The success of this program led to EAPFirst, which provides confidential counseling services for first responders in Vermont, including the state police. One component of EAPFirst is the training of peers to provide critical incident stress debriefings. Steve’s work has expanded considerably to include grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the state of Vermont.

Earl Dotter is an internationally recognized photojournalist focusing on occupational and environmental topics. He has produced numerous exhibits at the Harvard Chan School with themes including fishing, migrant workers, healthcare workers, and the 9/11 tragedy. He has also exhibited at the U.S. Department of Labor, NIOSH, and the AFL-CIO headquarters in DC. His photographic illustrations are included in the seminal text by Levy, Wegman, Baron, and Sokas, Occupational and Environmental Health, 7^th edition.

Most recently, Earl has contributed a 34-page photographic tribute to workers in Don’t Forget the Worker by Geissert, Keifer, and Gunter, published by ACGIH in 2024.

Herman Tavani, PhD is a professor emeritus of philosophy at Rivier University, Nashua, NH. At the outset of his tenure as a visitor scholar in the ‘90s, Dr. Tavani focused on ethical, legal, and social issues of occupational health in his moral issues classes and in his technology, values, and society course. More recently, he published a chapter for the Computer Ethics-Philosophical Enquiry Proceedings titled, Responding to Some Challenges Posed by the Re-identification of Anonymized Personal Data.

Stephanie Chalupka, EdD, RN, professor and coordinator of the Master of Science in Nursing program at the School of Science, Technology and Health at Worcester State University, has infused her courses with OSH concepts for many years and recently developed and received approval for a new online Master of Science in Nursing curriculum, Public/Population Health Nursing, that includes a global perspectives course, 20% of which is occupational health content.

During COVID-19, she transitioned nursing courses online and established nursing practice with public health nursing alumnae who needed help with infection prevention, epidemiologic tracking and surveillance, mass testing, etc. 

Peter Doran, PhD, RN, retired professor of health sciences at the University of Maine, Farmington. A visiting scholar since the inception of the program some 34 years ago, he has infused principles and concepts gleaned from the Visiting Scholars Program into several of his initiatives, such as the Maine Occupational Research Agenda modeled after NIOSH’s NORA and the Maine Indoor Air Quality Council. This Council now offers one of the most sought-after annual construction-related conferences in the nation.

Dr. Doran is one of several people responsible for creating the Lead Poisoning Prevention Fund and making it become law in Maine that a percentage of the cost of paint in Maine is contributed to the Lead Poisoning Prevention Fund.