Eric Crighton is a Full Professor in the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics at the University of Ottawa; Co-Director of the Environment, Community and Health (ECoH) Lab; and Adjunct Scientist at the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). He is a Health Geographer whose research is focused on understanding relationships between social, economic, and physical environments, and human health. He has published widely on themes including environmental and socioeconomic determinants of health, environmental disasters and psychosocial health, environmental risk perceptions and protective behaviour, and environmental health education. Dr. Crighton is also the lead investigator for the CIHR funded Prenatal Environmental Health Education (PEHE) Collaboration.

The session is part of the Prenatal Environmental Health Education in Canada: Collaborating for Clinical and Community Action (PEHE-CCC) initiative, co-led by the Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health & Environment (CPCHE) and the Prenatal Environmental Health Education (PEHE) Collaboration, with the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment (CANE) serving as lead partner. The initiative is funded through Health Canada’s Chemicals Management Plan and is bringing together partners across clinical, public health, and community sectors to strengthen how environmental health is addressed in prenatal care across Canada. Insights shared through this session will contribute to a coordinated national approach and the development of practical tools grounded in lived experience, public health, and community needs to support preconception, prenatal, and child health.

The session will be facilitated by Erica Phipps on behalf of the PEHE-CCC collaboration. Erica serves as Executive Director of the Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health & Environment (CPCHE), a national collaboration of organizations that work together to advance children’s environmental health protection. Erica has worked on environmental health and toxics issues for nearly three decades, with a focus on intersectoral action, knowledge mobilization, and health equity. She has a master’s degree in public health, a doctorate in health promotion, and co-leads the Prenatal Environmental Health Education (PEHE) Collaboration in her role as adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa.