Girasoles Market: Realities Behind the Shelf
Roxana Chicas, Linda McCauley, and Andrea Castellano
The Girasoles Market will reveal what’s really involved in getting food from the agricultural fields to our grocery stores and dinner tables. Our research findings will provide information on the “cost” that farmworkers pay to work in the fields. The exhibit will also reveal the policies, or lack thereof, that contribute to farmworkers losing their lives and leaving their kidneys in the field.
This exhibit was made possible through the generous support of Michael Dubois at Shibui Design who served as the creative designer for the project.
About the Team
Roxana Chicas, PhD, RN, FAAN, is a Latina nurse, climate scientist, and advocate for workers’ rights. She has dedicated her career to advancing health equity and labor policies with/for Latino farmworker communities. Dr. Chicas’ primary professional role is Assistant Professor at Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. Her leadership, teaching, prolific writing, and research have helped to cultivate national awareness of climate-health threats.
Linda A. McCauley, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN, is the Dean of Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. She has developed and executed a comprehensive strategic plan to position NHWSN at the forefront of nursing research, education, and policy. Dean McCauley’s own research—for which she has been consistently funded for over two decades—lies at the intersection of nursing and environmental and occupational health sciences. Her longstanding partnership with the Farmworkers Association of Florida involves collaborating with farmworkers to study the health impacts of heat stress (such as kidney disease) in agricultural settings. Dean McCauley is thought of as an entrepreneurial leader and is a sought-after expert in nursing business and innovation.
Vicki Stover Hertzberg, PhD, FASA, is a Professor, tenured, at Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and is an internationally-recognized expert on "big data" and its impact on health care. In her career of over 4 decades as a collaborating biostatistician, she has worked on scores of clinical research projects, and has co-authored over 150 publications. Her stature in the statistical community was recognized when she was elected as Fellow of the American Statistical Association and recipient of the association's Founders Award. Dr. Hertzberg is also an mPI in a NIEHS funded study that is developing a soft, nanomembrane-based, wearable electronic biopatch for monitoring physiological conditions that will use machine learning algorithms to predict occurrence of heat-related illness symptoms.
Jeff Sands is the Juha P. Kokko Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Physiology and the Director of the Emory University Division of Renal Medicine. Dr. Sands' research has focused on studying the signaling pathways that regulate renal urea and water transport, examining the urine concentrating mechanism, and translating basic research into clinical applications. He has extensive experience in clinical and translational research. Dr. Sands also serves as a multiple Principal Investigator (mPI) on the Occupational Heat Exposure and Renal Dysfunction study funded by NIOSH.
Lisa Elon, MS, MPH, is a Research Associate Professor at the Rollins School of Public Health, Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Emory University. She is a biostatistician on studies examining the relationship between mental stress and myocardial ischemia after myocardial infarction (MI), heat-related illness among farm workers, and she was recently part of the data management team for a completed trial on the use of LPG stoves to reduce health risks from indoor air pollution.
Nezahualcoyotl Xiuhtecutli, PhD, is the General Coordinator of the Farmworker Association of Florida. In this role, he has been involved in community-engaged research that integrates biomedical research, qualitative interviews, biomonitoring devices, and educational training interventions for farmworkers. Dr. Xiuhtecutli also leads the dissemination of research findings by developing training workshops on heat-related illness (HRI) and pesticide safety for farmworkers. He communicates research findings to various community stakeholders, helps develop policy briefs to inform policymakers, and provides recommendations to improve the working conditions and health of farmworkers.
Andrea Castellano is a nursing student at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and a QuestBridge Scholar. As a participant in the Honors Program, she also works as a research assistant on studies related to farmworkers and heat stress. Andrea contributed valuable artistic input to this project.