Introducing the 2025 Climate and Health Equity Leaders
Get to know the newest Climate and Health Equity Leaders (CHEL) Fellowship members.
Kjirsten Anderson, MPH, CHES
Health Promotion Specialist
Kjirsten Anderson (she/her) is a Health Promotion Specialist at Dakota County Public Health. She has worked for the Public Health Department since December 2021. She worked on Commercial Tobacco Prevention for 3 years and now is working in Environmental Health Promotion. Before Dakota County, she was a Regional Prevention Coordinator for the Minnesota 7-county Metro area for 4 years. Kjirsten has a Master of Public Health with a focus in Community Health Education from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Alec Duffy, MD
Internal Medicine & Pediatric Hospitalist
Originally from Salt Lake City, Alec Duffy attended New York Medical College for medical school before moving to Minneapolis for his residency training. Now an internal medicine-pediatrics trained hospitalist at the University of Minnesota, Alec is passionate about providing patient-centered care across all stages of life. He values the strong sense of community in Minneapolis, which has made it a rewarding place to live and work. In his free time, he enjoys staying active, lifting weights, and going on walks in his neighborhood with his wife and their dog, Finn.
Ashley Draisey, DO
Internal Medicine Hospitalist
Ashley is an internal medicine/hospitalist physician at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. I’m originally from Des Moines, IA. She attended medical school at Des Moines University. Ashley and her husband moved to Minneapolis for residency in 2020 shortly after marrying, and Ashley graduated from residency in 2023. She currently resides in Richfield, and enjoys spending quality time outdoors with her two huskies and six-month-old daughter.
Brenna Finley, MPH, RN, PHN
Public Health Nurse & Water Quality Educator
Brenna is a public health nurse and Extension Educator at the University of Minnesota’s Water Resources Center, where she focuses on developing education and volunteer programs related to groundwater, drinking water, and public health for private well owners and local government staff. Before joining the University of Minnesota, Brenna worked as a public health nurse and a program coordinator with Dakota County Public Health. Brenna holds master’s degrees in public health from the University of Michigan and nursing from the University of Minnesota. Brenna is interested in the intersection of climate change, health equity, and the human relationships with water, particularly regarding ecological health and the impacts of water quality and drinking water on public health.
Dawn Plumer, MPH, CHES
Environmental Health Specialist
Dawn Plumer is an Environmental Health Specialist in Dakota County, where she focuses on a Healthy Home approach. She earned a Master of Global Public Health from St. Catherine’s University, where she recognized the growing need for public health to advocate not only for global health advancements but also for the integration of planetary health into overall health.
Dawn began her career at Leech Lake Tribal College, where she established a holistic wellness center, developed programming for parenting students, and helped transition the campus to become tobacco-free. After relocating to the metro area with her family in 2014, she took on roles in local public health.
Over the past nine years, Dawn has been involved in various programs, including the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership, Emergency Preparedness, the Office of Aging, Public Health Nuisance Investigations, and Environmental Health. She is passionate about advocating for the health of our planet and hopes to ensure a healthy environment for future generations. Dawn aims to find ways to incorporate climate-preserving actions into the prevention strategies of local public health.
Hannah Resendiz Olson, MPH
Community Health Specialist
Hannah Resendiz Olson (she/her) is a dedicated public health professional with a strong foundation in community and global health. A native of Minnesota, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Women & International Development and a Master of Public Health in Global Health, both from St. Catherine University. Her undergraduate research focused on the role of free, public spaces in fostering community engagement.
Hannah’s career began as a Health Educator, working with teens and young adults. There, she developed a deep understanding of social determinants of health and trauma-informed care. These experiences shaped her professional journey, which continues to inform her approach to public health. For her MPH capstone, Hannah researched sexual violence against school-age girls in rural Kenya. Her research interests also include adolescent sexual health, neglected tropical diseases, and the gendered impacts of climate change.
Currently, Hannah serves as a Community Health Specialist for Scott County Public Health, where she works with the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) to promote health equity across projects such as breastfeeding support, worksite wellness, active living, and healthcare access. Additionally, she is a member of the MPHA Planetary Health Task Force. Outside of her professional work, Hannah is passionate about animal welfare, fostering dogs with Save-a-Bull Rescue, and performing as an Alto Saxophonist with the Minnesota Freedom Band.
Myriam Roby, DNP, FNP-C
Nurse Practitioner & Health Equity Clinical Outcomes Director
Dr. Roby is a healthcare provider with over 20 years of experience. This encompasses working both autonomously and in collaboration with other healthcare professionals to deliver across the spectrum, patient-centered care. In this field, she has worked in several different disciplines, such as primary and urgent care, occupational medicine, critical care, and currently as a hospitalist.
Recently, Dr. Roby has joined Hennepin Healthcare as their Health Equity Clinical Outcomes Director. This new role is focused on assessing health equity metrics across the organization while championing efforts to close those disparity gaps with the intention to improve on the holistic health and wellness of community partners. In addition, she also serves on the boards of several organizations: YouthPrise, a non-profit dedicated to the development of youth; Phyllis Wheatley Community Center, a legacy nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing communities centered in Minneapolis; and the African American Leadership Council, whose mission is to promote the development and advancement of our community.
Dr. Roby has an insatiable pursuit of knowledge and is committed to lifelong learning, as demonstrated by her educational progression. From obtaining her Associates degree and then her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Metropolitan State University, followed by a Master of Science in Family Nurse Practitioner studies from Georgetown University, to her completion of her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from St. Catherine University. In addition, she has obtained several certificates to enhance her practice, such as Fundamentals in Critical Care Support, Licensed, Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory, and Reducing Racial Disparities in Healthcare certificate from Harvard University.
She enjoys working out, community service, reading, participating in church activities, and being a mom to her eighteen year-old daughter.
