NCRE Featured Scholars

Candi Running Bear, PhD (Navajo Nation)

Dr. Running Bear (Cohort 13) recently received $5,000 in funding from the Evelyn M. Neil Faculty Fellowship to support her Students Speak project, which uses quantitative, qualitative and community-engaged methods to better understand the structural and cultural factors that affect teacher preparation degree completion among students in the Gallup, NM area, including students from Zuni and Diné communities. The project is progressing through the approval and partnership-building stages and will gather student data and perspectives to inform improvements in teacher preparation programs. This work directly supports Dr. Running Bear's role as a faculty member at UNM’s main campus while also strengthening connections between the main campus and the Gallup community.

Dr. Running Bear was also selected for the 2026 Child Intervention, Prevention & Services (CHIPS) Fellowship which was an important opportunity for her professional and research development. The institute helped her connect with other early-career scholars, deepen her understanding of the National Institute of Mental Health, and learn more about developing a competitive research career. Through CHIPS, she was also connected with a mentor and gained practical guidance and strategies for strengthening her NIMH K01 proposal.

Helen Russette, PhD (Chippewa-Cree)

In December, Scholar Helen Russette (Cohort 8) participated in the Partners for Advancing Health Equity (P4HE) Summit in Montgomery, Alabama. Along with fellow HES4A Scholar Damian Chase-Begay, Helen facilitated small group discussions where participants shared testimonies, strategies, and success stories from their work.  Helen will serve as a co-author on one of three forthcoming “Letters to the Field” to summarize what is and is not working in public health and to catalyze change. Three themes will be highlighted: 1) critique and confrontation of practices that harm communities, 2) strategies and wins offered by contributors, and 3) hope and love for the field. Once published, we look forward to sharing the letters. Meanwhile, please join us in celebrating Helen’s contributions to this important work!

Jenna Murray, MPH (Cohort 14)

Jenna Murray (Eastern Shoshone) recently published a paper in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, titled "Native American Pregnant and Postpartum People's Experiences of Discrimination During Perinatal Care: A Qualitative Study." In this study, the authors center Native mothers’ voices and lived experiences of negative interactions with their medical providers during pregnancy and postpartum care. Through listening circles and qualitative interviews, participants shared how these negative interactions shaped their healthcare experiences. Findings call for culturally grounded, community-informed changes to better support Native families.

>> Read Jenna's paper at BJOG

Tess Abrahamson-Richards, MPH (Cohort 14)

Tess Abrahamson-Richards (Spokane Tribe) won the Student Award for Research in Social Work for the paper, "Perinatal Wage Equity, Parental Leave Access, and Reproductive Justice Among American Indian and Alaska Native Working Mothers in Washington State" from the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work (GADE). She received the award at the annual Society for Social Work and Research Conference in Washington D.C. in January. 

And that's not all! Tess will also be an incoming Assistant Professor of Native American Community Health at the University of California Berkeley School of Social Welfare beginning this August after graduating with doctorate from the University of Washington Social Welfare PhD program in the spring.

>> Read Tess's paper at SSR

Heather Sauyaq Jean Gordon, PhD (Cohort 11)

Heather Sauyaq Jean Gordon, PhD (Sauyaq Solutions/American University), is one of twenty outstanding scholars who will engage in collaborative, multi-disciplinary research over the next 18 months as part of the fourth iteration of the Fulbright Arctic Initiative, which seeks to advance Arctic nations’ shared interest in building a secure and sustainable Arctic region.  Researchers will explore topics in the thematic areas of climate change and Arctic resources, Arctic security and governance, and mental health and well-being. This initiative is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, along with the governments of Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, and Iceland. 

Dr. Gordon’s Fulbright project is titled "Indigenous Sovereignty and Arctic Security: Human Rights and Environmental Justice in Governance." By integrating Indigenous sovereignty over land and water management into Arctic governance frameworks (learning from Sami in Sápmi and Inuit in Nunavut, hosted by Finland and Canada), this research aims to enhance ecological security, resilience, and wellbeing, while safeguarding Indigenous cultures and livelihoods. 

Congratulations Heather!

Katherina Arteaga, MA (Cohort 13)

Katherina Arteaga (Ysleta del Sur Pueblo) is a Clinical Psychology Graduate Student at Oklahoma State University.  In early October she proposed her dissertation and received approval from her committee.  Her dissertation is titled "Cognition and Resilience in Relation to Potentially Traumatic Events among Indigenous Young Adults."

Congratulations Kat!

Meenakshi Richardson, PhD (Cohort 11) and Alexis Merculief, PhD (Cohort 10)

In early October 2025, the SRCD Indigenous Caucus announced that a new governing council had been elected with unanimous support, which included welcoming Dr. Meenakshi Richardson (Haliwa-Saponi Tribe) as Secretary and Dr. Alexis Merculief (Aleut) as Treasurer.  

The SRCD Indigenous Caucus was established in 2022 to advance developmental research on Indigenous children, youth, and families; to advocate for increased attention to issues related to indigeneity in developmental science more broadly; and to support the development of Indigenous researchers and scholars within developmental science.   

Congratulations Meena and Alexis!

June 2025 Featured Scholar | Jessica Saniġuq Ullrich (Nome Eskimo Community)

April 2025 Featured Scholar | Meena Richardson (Haliwa-Saponi), PhD

January 2025 Featured Scholars

We are pleased to share that our newest cohort of Native Children’s Research Exchange Scholars (Cohort 13, aka, Lucky 13) has been selected! They include: 

• Katherina Arteaga, MA (Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, Oklahoma State University)
• Candi Running Bear, PhD (Navajo Nation, Western New Mexico University)
• Valentin Sierra, PhD (California Yoeme (Yaqui) Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health)
• Julie Smith-Yliniemi, PhD, LPCC, NCC (Ojibwe – White Earth Nation, University of North Dakota)
  

All of the scholars met the week of November 4 for their kick-off meeting and are just getting started. We are excited to see what they do next!

Learn more about each of these scholars.

November 2024 Featured Scholars

This month, we highlight the recent promotions for our NCRE Scholars.

Alexis Merculief, PhD (Aleut) | NCRE Scholar Cohort 10

Alexis is an incoming Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon’s new Ballmer Institute for Child Behavioral Health, starting in fall 2025. Alexis earned her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies from Oregon State University and is currently completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Stanford Center on Early Childhood. Alexis is interested in how features of the built and social environment influence young children's behavioral and cognitive health (specifically, executive function skills). Her research also examines how sources of community and cultural resilience can promote mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, and behavioral health for children from American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) and other underserved populations. At the Ballmer Institute, Alexis will support the institute’s mission to address the growing mental health crisis by creating a new mental health workforce, training child behavioral health specialists, and conducting community-engaged research with children and families in the Portland, OR area.

Cary Waubanascum, MSW, PhD (Oneida Nation citizen, Menominee, Forest County Potawatomi, Stockbridge-Munsee) | NCRE Scholar Cohort 10

In August 2024, Cary took on an Assistant Professor role in the Department of Indigenous Health at the University of North Dakota. She is thrilled to work from her home community in Oneida, WI. At UND, Cary is receiving support from her new department to advance her scholarship in Indigenous child welfare, enhance tribal research protections, and teach courses on American Indian and Indigenous health policy as well as Indigenous research methods.

Ashley Cole, PhD (Citizen Potawatomi Nation) | NCRE Scholar Cohort 7

Ashley was promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure, in the Department of Psychology at Oklahoma State University in June 2024. Ashley’s collaborative work examines health inequities and health behaviors among American Indian/Alaska Native (Indigenous) populations, including alcohol and substance use, exercise and eating patterns, and mental health. She also investigates social and individual determinants of health among AI/AN/Indigenous peoples from both resilience and risk perspectives. Ashley’s recent work includes serving as a Co-I/Oklahoma Site PI on a recently awarded NCI R01 (R01CA290675; MPIs: Carroll & Pickner) titled, “Randomized Clinical Trial of a Culturally-Tailored Suite of Smoking Cessation Resources for American Indian Persons.” Ashley served as a grant reviewer for the 2024 Tobacco-Related Disease Program Proposal Review, Community-Partnered Participatory Research Review Panel through the University of California, Office of the President-Research Grants Program Office. Ashley has also served as a Special Section Editor on Indigenous Child Development for the journal of Child Development, and she was invited as a leader to the "Chat with Leaders" event at the 2025 Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting, to be held in Minneapolis, MN in May 2025. Ashley has also continued serving as an Associate Editor for the journal of Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology (CDEMP). Additionally, Ashley is continuing to serve as a mentor on the NIH/NIGMS T32 Graduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (G-RISE) at OSU (T32GM140953; awarded trainee: Katherina Arteaga, MA). Learn more about Ashley’s collaborative work.

September 2024 Featured Scholars

Check out our Scholars! Helen Russette (Cohort 8), Evan White (Cohort 8), and Cass Armstrong (Cohort 11) were selected as prestigious Aspen Ideas Health Fellows.  No surprise of course!  Aspen Ideas Health Fellows are described as “a diverse group of health leaders who are selected for their innovative work, inspired accomplishments, and ability to transform ideas into action." As Fellows, Helen, Evan and Cass attended the Aspen Ideas Premier Health Gathering, which convened in June “with over 100 leading experts in healthcare, public health, policymaking, climate, tech, business, and the arts to discuss the greatest challenges and opportunities across the health landscape."  Congratulations Cass, Helen, and Evan!  We couldn’t be prouder!

June 2024 Featured Scholars

This month, we'd like to highlight former NCRE Scholars and their recently funded grant proposals!

Tribal Adolescent Connections Study

Two NCRE Scholars are Co-Principal Investigators on this study: Katie A. Schultz (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma), PhD, who is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, School of Social Work and Jerreed Ivanich (Metlakatla Indian Community), PhD, who is an Assistant Professor at the Centers for American Indian & Alaska Native Health at the University of Colorado.

Funded by NIH NIDA (Grant No. R01DA060108-01), this longitudinal, mixed methods study will examine changes in the social networks of American Indian youth across adolescence and collect community-level social network data to identify optimal timing and strategies for culturally grounded prevention of substance use, suicide and exposure to violence at the micro (individual) and macro (community) levels. 

Helen Russette, PhD, MPH (Chippewa-Cree Tribe)

Dr. Russette, an Assistant Scientist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, has received two awards this year! 

Applying the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Framework to Develop and Evaluate a Nature-based Culturally Grounded Substance Misuse Intervention for Native American Families

Funded by NIH NIDA (Grant no. K01DA060294-01), the overall goals for this project are to (1) develop and evaluate for implementation success, a nature-based culturally grounded substance misuse intervention tailored to Native American teenage mothers and their young children that live in a tribal community; and (2) advance my research and professional capacity to become an independent research investigator.

Investigating Culturally Grounded Interventions Occurring in the Natural Environment Designed to Address 'Deaths of Despair' among Native Americans

Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evidence for Action (E4A) (Grant no. 81524), the overarching research goals are to (1) inform the nature-based culturally grounded (NBCG) substance misuse intervention of the present and historical significance of place; (2) Identify place-based facilitators, barriers, and biodiversity (“non-human relatives”) present at NBCG intervention study sites; and, (3) Evaluate the efficacy of the NBCG intervention. 

March 2024 Featured Scholar | Heather Sauyaq Jean Gordon

We'd like to highlight former NCRE Scholar Heather Gordon's most recent work, which highlights the role of Indigenous culture as a protective factor from past and ongoing colonization and historical trauma. She explains how cultural engagement through social and intergenerational connectedness, Indigenous languages, spirituality and ceremonies, relationships with the land and subsistence, enculturation and identity formation, and traditional games and activities are protective for Indigenous people. She specifically focused some of her work on the protective role of land connection through subsistence in Alaska, and wrote a policy paper addressing how the loss of subsistence would be devastating to Indigenous wellbeing. See her recent work below:

• Indigenous Community Projects: Addressing Colonization through Using Culture as a Protective Factor. International Indigenous Policy Journal. 
  
• Current policy landscape prevents subsistence protections and practices necessary for Alaska Native children and families’ well-being. Child Trends. 
  
• 5 ways that subsistence practices support Indigenous child and family well-being. Child Trends. 

Heather Gordon, a Cohort 11 NCRE Scholar, is currently an owner/primary consultant at Sauyaq Solutions and an adjunct faculty at American University and holds a PhD in Indigenous Studies with an emphasis in Sustainability from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a MS in Community and Environmental Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

January 2024 Featured Scholar | Alexis Merculief 

Please join us in congratulating Cohort 10 NCRE Scholar Alexis Merculief (Aleut) on her recent publication in the journal Frontier in Psychology. The article, "Nurturing resilience in American Indian/Alaska Native preschool children: The role of culture in socialization, executive function, and neighborhood risk," highlights work on a new study that used American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experience Survey (AIAN FACES) data.

One of the core wisdoms highlighted by the research was that parents, family, and community play an important role in building strong cultural identity for preschoolers. Many tribal cultural and language activities promote children's cognitive development.

>> Read the full article here.

November 2023 Featured Scholars | Cary Waubanascum & Jerreed Ivanich

We are proud to announce that two of our NCRE Scholars have been selected as 2023 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows: Drs. Cary Waubanascum (Cohort 10) and Jerreed Ivanich (Cohort 6). The Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows program brings together leaders and changemakers from across the country, in diverse sectors, serving diverse communities. Ascend is a catalyst for the bold ideas that Cary and Jerreed bring to this space and our shared work to support the health, wellbeing, and THRIVING of Native children, families, and communities. Cary and Jerreed join 2 other NCRE Scholars who are previous Ascend Fellows – Drs. Alicia Mousseau (Cohort 1) and Jessica Ullrich (Cohort 8). 

Please take a few moments to watch the video and learn how Cary and Jerreed plan to ascend! Congratulations again Cary and Jerreed – we can’t wait to see where your work goes from here!

October 2023 | Welcome to our Cohort 12 NCRE Scholars!

September 2023 Featured Scholar | Meenakshi Richardson

June 2023 Featured Scholars | Monica Tsethlikai & Evan White

The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) biennial meeting was held on March 23- 25th. We are excited to share there is now an Indigenous Caucus at SRCD! The SRCD Indigenous Caucus was established in 2022 to advance developmental research on Indigenous children, youth, and families; to advocate for increased attention to issues related to indigeneity in developmental science more broadly; and to support the development of Indigenous researchers and scholars within developmental science.   

We are thrilled to announce TRC and NCRE Scholars are on the founding steering committee: Michelle Sarche, Director/Principal Investigator of the Tribal Early Childhood Research Center (TRC) at University of Colorado, and two NCRE Scholars, Monica Tsethlikai, Associate Professor at the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University, and Evan White, Associate Investigator at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

>> Read more about the new Indigenous Caucus.

April 2023 Featured Scholar | Alexis Merculief

January 2023 Featured Scholars | Susie Lopez & Evan White

Two NCRE Scholars are featured this month - Susanna (Susie) Lopez (Cohort 9) and Evan White (Cohort 8). Susie is Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Indigenous Health Research and Policy at Oklahoma State University. Evan is an Associate Investigator at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research (LIBR). Both have exciting career achievements we’d like to share!

Susie was recently accepted into the Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Diabetes Translation Research (CAIANDTR) Pilot & Feasibility Program. This program provides support for early-stage investigators (ESIs) committed to conducting translational research related to diabetes in American Indian and Alaska Native populations. 

>>Learn more about Susie's pilot project.

Evan is the lead author of a recently published article in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, titled "Five recommendations for using large-scale publicly available data to advance health among American Indian peoples: the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) StudySM as an illustrative case."  Be sure to check out this important contribution that outlines recommendations developed in partnership with the Cherokee Nation IRB on the responsible use of large-scale, publicly available American Indian and Alaska Native health data.

>>Read Evan's article.

Welcome to our Cohort 11 NCRE Scholars! | December 2022

We recently welcomed a new cohort of NCRE Scholars! Dr. Heather Jean Gordon, Cassidy Armstrong, Nicole Reed, and Meenakshi Richardson joined NCRE Scholars Cohort 11 in October.  All are dedicated to pursuing research on substance use and disorder and Native child and adolescent development. Welcome Cohort 11!

Jessica Saniguq Ullrich | November 2022 Featured Scholar

Jessica Saniguq Ullrich is a Cohort 8 NCRE Scholar. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage and a tribal member of the Nome Eskimo Community. We are excited to share the news of Jessica’s acceptance into the 2022 Aspen Ascend Fellowship this past spring. She is joined in this cohort by NCRE member Dr. Deana Around Him from Child Trends. According to the Ascend announcement, over the course of their fellowship, “Fellows will have a chance to inspire, challenge, and support each other and grow their leadership in exponential ways. Ascend Fellows will pursue work across sectors that impact the vitality and wellness of families, from reinventing systems of care and learning, unlocking capital that opens doors for economic inclusion and justice, and breaking ground with research that changes the course for policies and practices directly impacting communities." Congratulations Jessica on this major recognition!

Amanda Hunter | July 2022 Featured Scholar

Amanda Hunter is a Cohort 9 NCRE Scholar. Amanda is currently a postdoctoral scholar at Northern Arizona University’s Center for Health Equity Research. Amanda holds a PhD in Public Health (Health Behavior and Health Promotion) from the University of Arizona. She recently received a National Institutes of Health Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) K99-R00 award, called a Pathway to Independence Award, which will assist her in expanding and supporting her research. She is the first postdoctoral scholar at Northern Arizona University to receive a K99-R00 for her work titled, “Native Spirit: Culturally-grounded Substance Use Prevention for Indigenous Adolescents.”

Rebecca Young | June 2022 Featured Scholar

Rebecca Young is a Cohort 10 NCRE Scholar. Rebecca Young is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Rebecca holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Alaska Pacific University. Rebecca was selected as a NW NARCH Fellow. The Northwest Native American Research Center for Health (NW NARCH) program is operated by the EpiCenter at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB), an Indian organization uniquely qualified to administer NW NARCH based on active membership of all 43 Northwest Indian tribes in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. As a NW NARCH Fellow, Rebecca Young will have access to highly trained AI/AN health researchers sensitive to the culture and specific concerns of Northwest Indian and Alaska Native communities. In addition, as a NW NARCH Fellow, Rebecca will receive funding for work on her dissertation research. The NW NARCH fellowship additionally offers a travel stipend for conference attendance.

Amanda Hunter | March 2022 Featured Scholar

Amanda Hunter is a Cohort 9 NCRE Scholar. Amanda is currently a postdoctoral scholar at Northern Arizona University’s Center for Health Equity Research. Amanda holds a PhD and MPH in Health Behavior and Health Promotion from the University of Arizona. Amanda’s recent publication, "Native Spirit: Development of a culturally grounded after-school program to promote well-being among American Indian adolescents," describes her work with community partners to develop, implement, and evaluate a culturally-grounded after-school program. The after-school program, called Native Spirit, is based on Indigenous cultural values and activities and is led by traditional knowledge holders from the community. The community and academic partners hope that Native Spirit will strengthen adolescent cultural identity, self-esteem, resilience, and decrease substance use initiation.

Monica Tsethlikai | January 2022 Featured Scholar 

Monica Tsethlikai is a Cohort 2 NCRE Scholar. Monica is currently an Associate Professor at the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University. Monica was recently featured on the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) website in a SCRD Member Spotlight. Monica has become a member of the Ethnic and Racial Issue Committee (ERI) this year at SRCD. Monica is excited about the opportunity to advocate for more inclusion of Indigenous voices and research in the US and around the world. She hopes to see more research on Indigenous children featured in Child Development and Child Development Perspectives.

Alicia Mousseau | November 2021 Feature Scholar 

Alicia Mousseau is a Cohort 1 NCRE Scholar. Alicia is currently the Vice President for the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Alicia holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Wyoming. Alicia was recently selected as a 2021 Aspen Ascend Fellow. Over the next year, Ascend Fellows will have a chance to inspire, challenge, and support each other and grow their leadership in exponential ways. Ascend Fellows pursue work across sectors that impact the vitality and wellness of families, from reinventing systems of care and learning, unlocking capital that opens doors for economic inclusion and justice, and breaking ground with research that changes the course for policies and practices directly impacting communities.

Helen Russette | October 2021 Featured Scholar

Helen Russette is a Cohort 8 NCRE Scholar. Dr. Russette is a post-doctoral researcher at the Center for American Indian Health in the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. As part of her dissertation, she was able to spend almost two years developing a relationship with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to conduct a study on identifying and measuring resilience factors among young children with and without prenatal substance exposure. This relationship-building phase of their study was recently published by the Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse entitled “Relationship-building to develop an Indigenous community-based epidemiological study investigating developmental resilience factors among children with prenatal substance exposure.”

Tammy Martin | September 2021 Featured Scholar

Tammy Kahalaopuna Kaho'olemana Martin is an NCRE Scholar in Cohort 9. Tammy is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Hawaii Pacific University. She holds a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Martin was recently awarded a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Diversity Supplement entitled, “Intervention development and pilot study to prevent untreated Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander opioid use disorders.” This award will support her work to understand the cultural and community facilitators and barriers to treatment seeking for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander people with opioid and methamphetamine use disorders. She is looking forward to learning from this work to develop a cultural intervention that can be tested in future research. Tammy’s mentors for this award are Drs. Andy Subica, Keawe'aimoku Kaholokula, Nia Aitaoto, and Scott Okomoto.  Congratulations Tammy! We are so excited to see where your research will lead.  

Helen Russette | July 2021 Featured Scholar

Helen Russette is a Cohort 8 NCRE Scholar and a doctoral candidate at the University of Montana. During the COVID-19 outbreak, Helen had the opportunity to measure one of her greenspace exposure variables as part of a separate study of COVID-19 mortality risk. Her study, “Greenspace exposure and COVID-19 mortality in the United States: January–July 2020,” was recently published in Environmental Research. Results indicated a dose-response association between increasing deciles of greenspace exposure and reduced risk of COVID-19 mortality across the conterminous United States. Counties with a higher prevalence of older age residents, lower education attainment, Native Americans, Black Americans, and housing overcrowding were significantly associated with increased risk of COVID-19 mortality, whereas Medicaid coverage showed a significantly reduced risk. Congratulations on this important and timely contribution to the literature Helen!

Read her published paper, "Greenspace exposure and COVID-19 mortality in the United States: January–July 2020."

Katie Schultz & Jerreed Ivanich | June 2021 Featured Scholars

Katie Schultz and Jerreed Ivanich are Cohort 6 NCRE Scholars. Katie is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan, and Jerreed is an Assistant Professor of Public Health at the University of Colorado, Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health. Katie and Jerreed were recently funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse for the study, Tribal Reservations Adolescent Connections. This mixed-methods social network study will explore the peer and family relationships of American Indian (AI) youth, and how they factor in substance use, exposure to violence, and suicide among youth living on a Northern Plains reservation. This project grew out of their time together as NCRE scholars. NCRE co-director, Dr. Nancy Whitesell, is a Co-Investigator on the study. Congratulations Jerreed and Katie! We look forward to hearing more about findings from this important work!

Susie Lopez & Evan White | May 2021 Featured Scholars 

Two current NCRE Scholars are featured this month -- Susanna (Susie) Lopez and Evan White. Susie is a 5th year clinical psychology PhD student at Oklahoma State University. Evan is an Associate Investigator at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research (LIBR). Both Scholars have made contributions towards the special issue "Native American Issues in Behavior Therapy and Research: Parts I-II" in the Behavior Therapist. Susie served as guest editor on both the March and April 2021 issues, and Evan was a co-author of the article, “For the good of the community: Considering the impact of evidence-based treatment adaptation on Tribal communities,” published in the April issue. Great job Susie and Evan on these significant contributions to the literature!

Susie Lopez | April 2021 Featured Scholar 

Susanna (Susie) Lopez is a Cohort 9 NCRE Scholar and a 5th year clinical psychology PhD graduate student at Oklahoma State University. As a final step towards obtaining her PhD, Susie has successfully matched to a one-year clinical internship at the VA Puget Sound in Seattle, beginning July 2021. During this internship, Susie aims to expand her clinical training in substance use and behavior medicine, and further her research investigating the etiology and treatment of high-risk drinking with diverse veteran populations. She believes the internship program at the VA in Seattle is an ideal program to solidify her clinical skills before graduating in May 2022, and it is an excellent step towards reaching her career goal of becoming an independent substance use researcher. Congratulations Susie! We are excited to see where this next phase of your professional journey leads!

Helen Russette | March 2021 Featured Scholar

Helen Russette is a Cohort 8 NCRE Scholar and is currently a PhD candidate in Public Health at the University of Montana. Helen was recently awarded an American Indian Alaska Native Clinical and Translational Research Program (AI/AN CTRP) Diversity award housed at Montana State University and an American Indian Graduate Center Community Impact Scholarship award from the Center for Native Scholarships. The awards will provide a stipend; tuition, research, or dissertation support; and conference travel for an AI/AN mentee on a currently funded study and provide AI/AN doctoral candidates with additional support to carry out impactful research through various fields of study. Combined funding will cover Ms. Russette’s time, community-related activities, and any other research needs in order to complete her dissertation. 

Jessica Saniguq Ullrich | February 2021 Featured Scholar

Jessica Saniguq Ullrich is a Cohort 8 NCRE Scholar. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, a tribal member of the Nome Eskimo Community, and a proud mother of two middle school daughters. Jessica has a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Washington and graduated in March 2020. We are excited to share her list of recent publications!  Both of which have been co-authored with current and former NCRE Scholars and mentors.

• Wexler, L., Rasmus, S., Ullrich, J., Apala Flaherty, A., Raymond-Yakoubian, J., Amorak, B., Johnson, R., Murphrey, C. & Allen, J. (2020). Knowledge co-production through the development of a measure of Alaska Native community protective factors. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, 14(4), 443-459.
  
• Elliott-Groves, E., Hardison-Stevens, D., & Ullrich, J. (2020). Indigenous Relationality is the Heartbeat of Indigenous Existence during COVID-19. [Special issue]. Journal of Indigenous Social Development, Indigenous Communities and COVID-19: Impact and Implications, 9(3), 158-169.
  

Katie Schultz | January 2021 Featured Scholar

Katie Schultz is a Cohort 6 NCRE Scholar. Dr. Schultz is currently an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan. She holds a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Washington. She and her co-author, Emma Noyes, are really excited about a new publication, "'Then Who Are You?': Young American Indian and Alaska Native Women Navigating Cultural Connectedness in Dating and Relationships." It is an important and unexplored topic – the authors explore dating and relationships among a sample of young Native women. They also incorporate some innovative approaches that the authors hope will expand how we think about academic publishing. This included adding illustrations to the text and asking a group of Indigenous women to review and interpret the findings for the discussion section. 

Sarah Momilani Marshall | December 2020 Featured Scholar

Sarah Momilani Marshall is a Cohort 8 NCRE Scholar. Momilani is currently a post-doctoral researcher at Hawai‘i Pacific University. Momilani holds a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Recently she was awarded a Diversity Supplement grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse. The Diversity Supplement will build upon a current research project that focuses on the implementation of a culturally grounded drug prevention curriculum in public schools on the Island of Hawai`i (R34 DA046735: “The Implementation, Adoption, and Sustainability of Ho‘ouna Pono”; PI: Scott Okamoto). The 2-year Diversity Supplement will provide Momilani with research training, education, and mentorship while enabling her to expand the culturally grounded drug prevention curriculum, Ho‘ouna Pono, into charter schools on the Island of Hawai`i. 

Evan White | October 2020 Featured Scholar

Evan White is a Cohort 8 NCRE Scholar. Evan is currently an Associate Investigator at Laureate Institute for Brain Research (LIBR). Evan holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Oklahoma State University. He began at LIBR as a post-doctoral research fellow working with Robin Aupperle, PhD. He was promoted to Associate Investigator in July 2020 and will continue to build his program of research aimed at applying neuroscience to understanding American Indian resilience and risk in relation to mental health. He is currently developing a project that will be the first to explore neuroscientific markers of cultural protective factors among American Indians.

Learn more about Evan's work.