Ruth McDermott-Levy

An expert in environmental health, global health, and public health nursing, Dr. McDermott-Levy has taught and conducted research in Philadelphia’s Arab-American and immigrant communities, with community health workers in Nicaragua, and in the Marcellus Shale region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. She has advocated for health protective regulations for those who live in oil and gas development communities. With nurse colleagues around the U.S., Dr. McDermott-Levy has developed recommendations and teaching strategies to incorporate environmental health and climate change into the nursing curricula. Dr. McDermott-Levy is a co-editor of an open-access environmental health textbook for nurses, Environmental Health in Nursing. In 2018, she received the Fulbright-Saastamoinen Foundation Health and Environmental Sciences Award for teaching and research. She will be at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) from August to December 2018, where she will be using this grant to research the health impact of climate changes in Finland, which is at risk due to significant increases in air temperature.

Education

• Villanova University - PhD
• University of Massachusetts, Amherst - MPH
• Villanova University - MSN
• Wilkes University - BSN

Areas of Expertise

• Climate Change
• Fracking and Health
• Immigrant Health
• Public Health
• Community & Public Health Nursing
• Epidemiology
• Global Health
• Environmental Health/Health impacts of UOGD
• Health Disparities

Companies

• Professor Villanova University (2021)
• Associate Professor and Co-Director, Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Environmental Health (PEHSU) Villanova University, M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing (2020 — 2020)
• Director, Center for Global & Public Heatlh, M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing Villanova University (2014 — 2020)
• Associate Professor Villanova University (2014 — 2020)
• Fulbright-Saastamoinen Foundation Health and Environmental Sciences Award for teaching and research University of Eastern Finland Kuopio Department of Nursing Science (2018 — 2018)
• Assistant Professor Villanova University (2008 — 2014)