Valerie K. Sabol, RN, PhD, MBA
Clinical Professor and Chair for the Division of Healthcare in Adult Populations
Duke University School of Nursing
Nurse Practitioner at Duke University Medical Center
Faculty Associate, Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine
valerie.sabol@duke.edu
Valerie K. Sabol, PhD, MBA, ACNP-BC, GNP-BC, CHSE, CNE, ANEF, FAANP, FAAN is a clinical professor at the Duke University School of Nursing (DUSON).
Dr. Sabol has more than 30 years of clinical experience across multiple settings and is board-certified as both an Adult Acute Care and Gerontology Nurse Practitioner. She received her BS in Nursing degree from Penn State University, her MSN degree from the University of Pennsylvania, her PhD in Nursing from the University of Maryland, and her MBA from Fayetteville State University.
Before serving as the inaugural Director of Planetary Health (August 2024-Present), Dr. Sabol served as the Interim Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at DUSON (July 2022-December 2023), Chair for the Healthcare in Adult Populations Division, the Accelerated BSN (ABSN) Program Director, and the Director of the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner major in the MSN Program. Prior to working at Duke, Dr. Sabol was faculty at the University of Maryland School of Nursing for 11 years. She provides clinical care as a nurse practitioner to our aging Veterans at the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center (DVAMC), and has previously provided care at Duke University Medical Center with the Endocrinology Inpatient Consultation Service, the Duke COVID-19 Monoclonal Infusion Clinic, and the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the DVAMC using telehealth.
Her clinical and research interests focus on how social drivers of health like nutrition, physical activity, obesity, and climate change influences functional mobility and physical and mental health among our aging population. In partnership with the Duke School of Medicine, Dr. Sabol co-leads a year long, interprofessional humanities-focused course called, Moral Movements in Medicine and has been involved in several Duke campus committees focused on climate and sustainability-focused initiatives. To help Duke meet their Climate Change and Sustainability Education Mission, she was asked to serve as the University’s Education Co-Chair, with the goal to help all Duke Schools integrate key knowledge and skills into their respective curricula. She was also selected for the 2024 cohort of Environmental Health Research Institute for Nurse and Clinician Scientists (EHRI-NCS), an NIH (National Institutes of Health) / NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) funded train-the-trainer mentorship program. Starting in 2025, Dr. Sabol will serve on the Board of Directors for the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE).
Dr. Sabol is a past-President of the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association (GAPNA) and past-Treasurer for the North Carolina Great 100 Nurses Board of Directors. She is a former column editor for AACN Advanced Critical Care and Geriatric Nursing, and currently serves on editorial boards and as a reviewer for critical care, geriatric, and obesity-focused journals.