Merideth Lewis

Merideth Lewis, PhD, RN, PHN, CNOR has recently completed her dissertation research around the conceptualization of the experience of surgical smoke in the operating room. Merideth’s mixed methods research offers a rigorous and detailed look at a very complex, dynamic, and important occupational health exposure. Her methodology and findings may be transferrable to other hazardous occupational and environmental exposures.

Her background as a Public Health Nurse and Perioperative nurse in the operating room have balanced her practice scope and refined her skills. Merideth recognizes her positionality and is deeply grateful to her mentors. Her overall interest in the environment, sustainability, and ethics complements her recent and future research program. She is passionate about everyone having clean air to breathe, in the operating room, and beyond.

• Perioperative nursing
• Constructivist grounded theory
• Mixed methods

• Indoor air pollution
• Global heath
• Access to essential and emergency surgical care
• Climate change
• Sustainability

• University of California, San Francisco, PhD in Nursing, 2026
• University of California, San Francisco, MS in Health Policy, 2019
• University of San Francisco, BS in Nursing, 1992

• World Health Organization Intern in Geneva, Switzerland (2018)
• Perioperative Registered Nurse, Bay Area (2003-present)

• NIOSH Grant Recipient, 2020-2025
• Gortner Scholar, UCSF, 2025
• Jonas Philanthropies Scholar, Washington, D. C., 2021-2023