Capstone event celebrating National Healthy Schools Day with a conversation reflecting on the evolution of the healthy schools movement and identifying priorities for the next decade. Moderated by Claire Barnett, MBA, founder and former Executive Director, Healthy Schools Network.
Featured Speakers:
- Lynn Goldman, MD, MPH, MS, Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health and Dean Emeritus, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, and former Assistant Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- William Datema, DrPH, MS, MCHES, Chief Executive Officer, Society for Public Health Education, and President-Elect, National PTA
Session Focus:
- Key milestones and achievements of the healthy schools movement over the past 30 years
- Emerging challenges for children’s environmental health in schools
- Priorities for the next decade
- Building momentum for the next phase of the healthy schools movement
Lynn R. Goldman M.D, M.S., M.P.H. is Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University; served as the Michael and Lori Milken Dean of Public Health 2010-2025
Former Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Lynn R. Goldman, a pediatrician and an epidemiologist, is the Michael and Lori Milken Dean and Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. She is a renowned expert in pediatric environmental health and chemicals policy. Dr. Goldman has contributed academic scholarship that has helped shape this field of study. She also has translated research to policy by writing policy analyses and congressional testimony in service of successful efforts by Congress to enact reforms to federal pesticide law (the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act) and federal chemicals law (the 2016 Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century).
Previously, Dr. Goldman was Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University (1999–2010); Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she directed the Office of Chemical Safety and Prevention (1993–1998); and Chief of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control (as well as other positions) at the California Department of Public Health.
Dr. Goldman is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and received the NAM Walsh McDermott Award for service to the academy. She is a recipient of the Heinz Award for Global Environmental Change and the American Public Health Association Environment Section’s Homer M. Calver Award. She has received alumna awards from Hopkins (Woodrow Wilson Award for Excellence in Government and Society of Scholars); UC San Francisco (150th Anniversary Alumni Excellence Award); and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health (Alumna of the Year and its Influential Alumni Award). Dr. Goldman serves on the Environmental Defense Fund Board of Trustees; the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Environmental Health Executive Committee; and Past Chair of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health. She has served on advisory committees to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Council, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA.
Dr. Goldman earned her BS and MS from UC Berkeley, an MD from UC San Francisco; an MPH from Johns Hopkins University; and completed her pediatric residency training at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland
Dr. William Datema was elected as National PTA president-elect in June 2023. During his term, Dr. Datema is committed to developing leaders and strengthening national support for state and local units. Starting as a student member, Datema has been a PTA member for over 45 years. He has served as National PTA secretary-treasurer (2021-2023), two terms on the National PTA Board of Directors, one term on the National PTA Nominating and Leadership Recruitment Committee (NLRC) and various other terms on national, state and local committees.
Datema has served in education and public health for over 40 years, including service from local to international levels. He has held several national leadership positions including chief of the Program Development and Services Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health, director of partnerships for children’s health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and executive director of the Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education in Washington, DC. Datema has also served as a board member for various levels of nonprofits and is the United States representative for the UNESCO Chair–Global Health and Education.
He holds a Doctor of Public Health from the University of Georgia and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Missouri State University. Datema has presented in 48 states and 12 other nations and has authored and contributed to several publications. He is a father of four children and grandfather of two.
Claire Barnett, MBA, Senior Adviser, is the founder and former Executive Director of the Healthy Schools Network. Under her leadership, Healthy Schools Network established its Information and Referral service for parents and others focused on protecting children’s environmental health and learning. Also established: the national Coalition for Healthier Schools; a collaboration on chemical policy reform in schools; NewsSlice, an online news service for the healthy schools community; National Healthy Schools Day, a day to encourage healthier facilities; and National Healthy Schools Hero Awards.
In 2017, she received the William K. Reilly Award from American University School of Public Affairs for Environmental Leadership, and the American Public Health Association’s David P. Rall Award for contributions to public health through science-based advocacy. The Network has received awards from US EPA for IAQ; a Green Apple Award from the Collaborative for High Performance Schools; a National Partner Award from Green Seal; and recognition from New Orleans’ Walter A Cohen Alumni Association for saving the historic African American high school from demolition post-Katrina. In 2025, Barnett received the Mount Holyoke College Alum Association Achievement Award for instituting sweeping policy changes in New York and nationally. She received her BA (psychology) from Mount Holyoke College and MBA (health systems) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She lives in upstate New York; her two sons and their families are in Colorado.
