EHSRC Role(s): Director, Community Engagement Core
Janssen a clinical professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, she has extensive experience in qualitative and ethnographic methods and community engaged research in rural spaces, particularly focusing on agriculture, food systems, and environmental health. She has served as Director of the EHSRC Community Engagement Core (CEC) since 2018 and as Director of Undergraduate Programs in the College of Public Health since 2022.
As CEC Director, Janssen led a regional environmental health needs assessment, which collected data about environmental health concerns, trusted information sources, and disaster preparedness across Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. She oversees the development of environmental health resources for rural communities and multi-media products, including the Iowa Environmental Health Podcast. In addition, Janssen is the lead PI of Central Midwest COLEARN, a NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP) team (NA23OAR4310629). In this role, she work with rural residents across Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri identifying community-based needs related to extreme weather preparedness to deliver appropriate programming. Overall, Janssen’s integrative approach emphasizes a holistic and community-based perspective that takes into account the complex cultural interactions that underlie rural environmental challenges.