Our Team
Ethan Sims, Executive Director
Ethan Sims, MD is an emergency medicine physician living and working in Boise, Idaho. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and his medical degree from Emory University. Dr. Sims trained in emergency medicine at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois before a decade soaked in roasted green chile and sunshine in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He and his family moved to Boise in 2017 and have found home in the Gem State. He has achieved the pinnacle of parenting, whereupon his daughters have surpassed him in intellect and athleticism, but fortunately still need a driver. He and his wife still have the affection of their three dogs. Ethan founded the Idaho Clinicians for Climate and Health in late 2021 and is proud to serve on the board of directors for ICCH. He is the medical director for sustainability at St. Luke's Health System, working to embed sustainable practice across the St. Luke's system.
Amy Moll
Amy Moll, PhD is a Professor in the College of Engineering at Boise State University. She enjoys teaching first year courses like MSE 101 Introduction to Materials Engineering and UF 100 The Impact of Materials on Society. Her research interests include microelectronic materials, advanced manufacturing, sustainable materials, and engineering education. Dr. Moll was the founding chair of the Materials Science and Engineering department at Boise State. She served as Dean of the College of Engineering from 2011 to 2017 and as Associate Director of the Center for Advanced Energy Studies from 2017 to 2019. In 2018, she started the B.S. in Engineering, known as Engineering Plus, and served as the Program Director through 2023. Since 2021, she has served as the Director of the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering. She strongly believes that engineers improve our quality of life and can have a positive influence on environmental challenges. She enjoys being outside: gardening, hiking, floating a river, or just sitting. She has raised four puppies for Canine Companions for Independence. Although she once met a President of the United States, her dogs are more famous than she is.
William Weppner, President
William “Bill” Weppner, MD, MPH is an internal medicine physician and clinician-educator based at the Boise VAMC in Idaho. He received his MD and MPH at the University of Washington (UW); he completed his training in primary care internal medicine at the UW-Boise residency program, and a subsequent general internal medicine fellowship in health services and health policy. He is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine and Boise Section Head for the Division of General Internal Medicine for the UW School of Medicine. As an educator and health services researcher, Dr. Weppner has published one book, several book chapters, and over 20 peer-reviewed manuscripts on health care delivery and education appearing in journals such as JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, Academic Medicine, Journal of Graduate Medical Education and the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Raised in Idaho, he enjoys living in Boise with his wife and three children and is lucky enough to be able to mountain bike and ski to and from work (weather permitting!).
Melissa Roop
Melissa Roop, MD is a Family Practice physician currently working in Boise at Full Circle Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center. She enjoys working with underserved populations, and seeing their unique vulnerabilities to the health effects of climate change is part of what brings her to ICCH. She grew up as a "Forest Service brat" where she learned the value of the land at a young age. She became interested in Climate Medicine after she completed residency training, a time when she felt her work in medicine was at a disconnect from her core value of caring for our planet. She is currently focusing her energy in this space on provider education and decarbonization efforts in her health system. She hopes to soon work with her local community and later the state and region on climate resilience strategies. Outside of work she enjoys gardening, running, rock climbing, knitting and cooking alongside her partner, son and two dogs.
Auriane Koster
Auriane holds dual BS degrees in Environmental Science and Applied Mathematics from URI and a PhD in Sustainability from ASU. She has taught sustainability at ASU and managed programs for Fusebox, helping school districts integrate sustainable practices. In 2023, she became STMicroelectronics’ first Regional Sustainability Stakeholder Lead, bridging sustainability between the company and American clients. In April 2024, Auriane joined Micron as Boise Site Sustainability Senior Manager, overseeing campus-wide sustainability initiatives. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, yoga, reading, traveling, indoor cycling, and spending time and volunteering with her cherished certified therapy bloodhound, Freyja.
Dr. Kathryn Conlon
Dr. Kathryn Conlon is an Associate Professor of environmental epidemiology at the University of California Davis. Dr. Conlon's research investigates the pathways through which climate change-driven exposures influence human, environmental, and animal health, paying specific attention to the identification and evaluation of intervention strategies for protecting health. She collaborates with experts outside of public health to maximize reach and impact of this research area. Through a transdisciplinary approach, her goal is to inform and develop interventions, whether policy-based, behavioral, or clinical, to prevent the human, animal, and environmental health impacts of climate change.
Sara Spiedel, Treasurer
Sara joined Saint Alphonsus in 2008 and currently serves as Vice President of Finance for its medical group, serving Idaho and Eastern Oregon. She also leads the Saint Alphonsus Green Team.
Earlier in her career Sara worked as a health policy advisor in the U.S. Senate. She held roles with the Senate Special Committee on Aging and Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. She has an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and an MHA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently participating in the inaugural cohort of the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education’s Sustainable Healthcare Leadership Institute through Columbia University.
Sara grew up in Idaho and attended Boise High School. She and her husband Michael have three young boys and enjoy skiing, traveling, and hiking in the Boise foothills.
Amanda Blanchet, Vice President
Amanda Blanchet, PA-C is an emergency medicine clinician in Boise, Idaho. She studied International Business at the George Washington University then went on to complete her PA studies at MCPHS - Boston. In 2023, she graduated from the Climate Health Organizing Fellowship with the Cambridge Health Alliance. She has lectured internationally on various medical training and education topics, among her favorites was a customized curriculum for National Park Rangers in Sri Lanka teaching emergency medical training for those who protect wilderness and wildlife. Amanda believes we can harness innovative technologies to complement and even enhance our natural world.
