Q & A with Healthy Climate Wisconsin’s Victoria Gillet, MD

Vipassana: Where did you grow up, and where do you live now?

Victoria: I grew up in Oak Park, the first suburb west of Chicago. After moving around a bit—California, Boston—I realized my heart was in the Midwest. I moved back for my medical training, and while I thought I'd settle in the Chicago area where I have family, I went to residency at UW-Madison and fell in love with Wisconsin. I planned never to leave. I describe myself now as a naturalized Wisconsinite, who, just like everyone else, gets a little annoyed when I see an Illinois license plate! I live in the Milwaukee area now.

Vipassana: Could you tell me a little bit about the kind of work that you do?

Victoria: I'm a primary care internist in Milwaukee, and I also help run an internal medicine residency program at Aurora. Specifically, I run the CARE track (Community, Advocacy, Research, and Education), a relatively new program I was hired to start. Its purpose is to train future physicians who want to do outpatient internal medicine but who are also deeply interested in community engagement, public health, and thinking about systemic change. It’s been wonderful because it allows me to bring the things that drew me to Healthy Climate Wisconsin right into my professional life.

Vipassana: What would you do on your perfect weekend in Wisconsin?

Victoria: It almost certainly starts with coffee at Stone Creek Coffee. I love that place—it’s delicious and community-oriented, which is important to me.

Then, I'd spend lots of time outside, as I love all seasons. The specifics depend on the time of year. In the winter, I love going to the Urban Ecology Center and kicking snow for my dog to chomp out of the air. In the summer, we like going to the beaches and splashing water in the air (which he also loves to chomp). In the spring and fall, I love really long bike rides on the Oak Leaf Trail to the northern suburbs, watching the flowers and birds change. I often ride up to the Daily Baking Company in Port Washington, which everyone should go to! The weekend would end with a board game at home with my friends. I play so many board games!

Vipassana: What brought you to Healthy Climate Wisconsin?

Victoria: I was very active in the Sierra Club chapter in Madison during my residency, involved in efforts to close down coal plants. In 2019, a colleague there, Cassie Steiner, told me about a new organization focusing on the intersection of climate and health. I started talking to the folks there and slowly got more involved as Healthy Climate Wisconsin built up. I began on what was the public policy team, serving as the lead for executive policy, specifically interfacing with the Public Service Commission on electricity system changes, like decommissioning coal plants.

Vipassana: What is one of your favorite projects that you’ve worked on with Healthy Climate Wisconsin?

Victoria: I have to pick two! I get the most energized around issue team organizing. It’s incredibly motivating to work with other people toward a specific common goal. When we started the issue team focused on getting We Energies to do better a couple of years ago, it really solidified how I spend the majority of my time with the organization. It's energizing, and I'm grateful for everyone who's become part of that team.

However, I also deeply care about supporting local community connections. Part of the strength of the We Energies team is centered on the fact that we started a Milwaukee area group multiple years before the larger issue team existed. Having a group focused on local issues allows us to adapt quickly, talk about what matters to us, and build community. That kind of resilience and change-making is important, and I am profoundly grateful to be a part of it.

Vipassana: If you could broadcast something to every Wisconsinite about health and climate, what would you say?

Victoria: I would tell them that climate change is not an issue just for our children or our grandchildren. It's having impacts on our health right now through poor air quality from wildfires, heat waves, and flooding. Most people are starting to understand this because of how many abnormal weather events we've had, and that can feel overwhelming.

But there is so much to be done to both decrease our trajectory toward a planet that's too hot and create immediate benefits that help us here and now. We can be moving toward an even better version of our society. It doesn't have to be scary.

Vipassana: What is a topic that you really geek out about?

Victoria: I truly geek out about energy policy. I think so much about how to create energy systems that truly support people. I also hold a weird amount of information about Stone Creek Coffee!

Vipassana: What brings you hope?

Victoria: The people who are intentionally building resilient communities. There’s a lot of data showing that engaging civically with your community improves health, well-being, happiness, and makes democracy more functional.

Civic engagement looks like a lot of things, but the ones I'm most excited about are those that bring relevant resources directly to a community. I’m excited about the city of Detroit building out its own parallel utility to better serve its residents than the existing investor utility. A Milwaukee city alderperson is working on creating community ambassadors to more effectively raise and solve really local issues together. Even small versions, like the burgeoning co-housing movement in Madison, where folks are choosing to live together in an intentional community. Everything in that realm helps us build a better society that works better for us—not for corporations or other abstract concepts that aren't actually helping anybody.