NCRE Scholars

Katherina Arteaga, MA (Ysleta del Sur Pueblo)

PhD student, Oklahoma State University

[email protected]

Katherina Arteaga is a member of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and is currently attending Oklahoma State University (OSU) as a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program. Born and raised in El Paso, TX, she completed her Bachelor's degree in Psychology at University of Texas at El Paso and her Master's degree in Psychological Research at Texas State University. Outside of her professional commitments, Katherina enjoys taking peaceful walks with her dog, tending to her growing plant collection, and crafting.

At OSU, Katherina works in the Cultivating Opportunities that Lead to Equity (COLE) Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Ashley Cole. Her research broadly focuses on the intersection of trauma, substance use, and health inequities among Indigenous populations through a resilience and risk lens. Through this work, she aims to identify protective factors that promote resilience to trauma and substance use behaviors, with the goal of informing strengths-based interventions.

 

Candi Running Bear, PhD (Navajo Nation)

Assistant Professor, Western New Mexico University

[email protected]

Dr. Candi Running Bear is a citizen of the Navajo Nation from St. Michaels, AZ. She is of the Hashk'ąąn Hadzohí (Yucca fruit hung on a string) clan and born for the Ma'ii Deeshgiizhinii (Coyote pass/Jemez) clan. She relishes spending quality time with family and friends, especially her daughter, Aubrie. She was a special education early childhood classroom teacher for nearly 13 years. Her academic degrees include a Bachelor of Science in psychology and an Master of Arts in special education. She also received a PhD in curriculum and instruction with a focus on culturally and linguistically diverse exceptional children from Northern Arizona University in the spring of 2023. Currently, Dr. Running Bear is an assistant professor at Western New Mexico University in the Early Childhood Department.

Dr. Running Bear has conducted research regarding literacy for Diné preschoolers and parent training for Diné families of a child/children with autism. Presently, she is working with a team to sustain and spread the use of the adapted parents training program, Parents Taking Action, for Diné families of children with autism. With another team, she is working on a project that aims to develop recommendations to ensure that autism assessment practices and the context in which assessments occur are culturally responsive for Diné families who have a child with autism. Her future research interests are to use a community-engaged approach to analyze existing large data sets that include information about young American Indian/Alaska Native children with disabilities which can benefit Indigenous children, families, and their communities.

 

Valentin Sierra, PhD (California Yoeme (Yaqui))

Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

[email protected]

Dr. Valentín Quiroz Sierra (all pronouns) is Yoeme from the California Yoeme (Yaqui) Indian community. Dr. Sierra belongs to a family of migrant farm workers and was raised in California's Central Valley on un rancho de cítricos. They joined the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health in 2024 as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Sierra earned a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley School of Social Welfare, where they also earned a Master of Social Welfare degree. Previously, Dr. Sierra worked as a Child Therapist at the American Indian Child Resource Center in Oakland, California.

Dr. Sierra's clinical and research agendas focus on eliminating mental health disparities, particularly suicide and depression, for urban Indigenous young people through culturally grounded practices and interventions. They leverage a combination of Artificial Intelligence and Community-Based Participatory Research to analyze the cultural understanding that influence mental health perceptions within tribal communities to improve access to and effectiveness of mental health treatment. Dr. Sierra’s NCRE Scholars work will focus on using machine learning methods to predict suicidal ideation among Native American adolescents in California high schools to identify key risk and protective factors that can inform the development of culture-based interventions.

 

Julie Smith-Yliniemi, PhD, LPCC, NCC (Ojibwe-White Earth Nation)

Assistant Professor, Researcher, and Director of Community Engagement, University of North Dakota

[email protected]

Dr. Julie Smith-Yliniemi is a dedicated educator, researcher, and community leader. She currently serves as an assistant professor and the Director of Community Engagement at the Indigenous Trauma and Resilience Research Center at the University of North Dakota. Julie holds a PhD in Counseling Education and Supervision and is a current fellow with the Johns Hopkins CIRCLE program. She is committed to creating opportunities that integrate Indigenous traditions with modern approaches to mental health and well-being.

A focus of Julie's work in the NCRE will be the development of a grant-supported, culturally grounded youth sports camp aimed at promoting mental health and preventing substance abuse among Native youth. This innovative 5-day camp will integrate sports training with mental health workshops, traditional crafts, and cultural education sessions. Through partnerships with a former college stand-out Native American basketball player and local community leaders, the camp aims to strengthen participants' cultural identity, resilience, and leadership skills while enhancing their mental well-being. The camp concludes with a 3v3 basketball tournament and participation in a pow-wow, where youth wear the regalia they create during the camp, embodying the connection between cultural pride and mental health.

Julie's research centers on Indigenous methodologies and healing practices, focusing on mental health, substance abuse prevention, and youth empowerment. She designs programs that prioritize cultural identity and community-driven healing, providing a framework for sustainable mental well-being. Her teaching includes the course Global Indigenous Health Perspectives, where students explore Indigenous healing practices during a 10-day experiential trip to New Zealand. Julie's commitment to decolonizing mental health frameworks is reflected in her public work, where she promotes the use of cultural humility when working with Native American clients.

Julie enjoys participating in pow-wows, biking, yoga, and traveling with her family. Through her research, teaching, and community engagement, Julie aims to create spaces where Indigenous knowledge, culture, and healing practices thrive, fostering wellness for future generations.

Jessica Saucedo (Mexican Indigenous Heritage)

PhD student, Michigan State University

[email protected]

Jessica Saucedo was born and raised in Southern California to Mexican immigrant parents. Her parents are from Sonora and Baja California Norte, Mexico. She had the privilege of visiting her family and communities in Baja California Norte and Sonora throughout her upbringing, grounding her in her Mexican Indigenous heritage. In 2018, she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Cal Poly Pomona. Soon after graduating, she began her doctoral studies in Ecological/Community Psychology at Michigan State University. She currently lives and works on the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg with her fiancé, Alan, and their cat and two dogs. They love the beauty and calmness of winter, so they often walk, snow tube, and play with their dogs in the snow. Outside of winter, they enjoy soaking up the Great Lakes’ sun and greenery through biking, kayaking, and spending time outdoors with family. Jessica’s NCRE Scholars work will focus on the impact of Native culture and language on the development of preschool-aged Indigenous children and implications for long-term substance use prevention.

 

Sharnel Vale-Jones (Lingít from Yakutat)

PhD student, University of Alaska Anchorage

[email protected]

Sharnel Vale-Jones, Yaagál, Lingít from Yakutat, is a member of the Kwaashk'IKwáan (Raven, Humpy Salmon) and Dis hítdaxáyáxat (Moon house). She is also the daughter of the Teikweidí (Eagle, Brown Bear) and a granddaughter of the Kaagwaantaan (Eagle, Beaver). As a dedicated scholar and advocate for Indigenous health, her professional journey reflects her unwavering commitment to better understand Indigenous communities' unique psychological needs and resilience strategies.  She holds an MS in Clinical Psychology and is currently pursuing a PhD in Clinical-Community Psychology.  Her primary research interest lies in exploring resilience strategies within Indigenous communities, specifically regarding child and adolescent development. This line of inquiry has been influenced by her lived experience in rural Alaska. Her growth was woven by the hands of her parents, aunts, uncles, and clan elders, who played integral roles in her upbringing. Their collective wisdom and intergenerational guidance laid the foundation for her approach to community service, instilling in her the values of respect, reciprocity, and responsibility towards her people and the land they inhabit.  Sharnel’s NCRE Scholars work will focus on the roles of parents, maternal and paternal aunts, uncles, clan elders, and other important caregivers in child-rearing to understand how these unique practices shape resilience within Indigenous communities. Her work will inform the development of culturally tailored interventions to reduce the prevalence and impact of developmental and substance use-related disorders in Native communities.

 

Chelsea Wesner (Choctaw Nation), DrPH

Research Scientist, Colorado School of Public Health

[email protected]

Chelsea Wesner (she/her) is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation. She was born and raised on a family farm/ranch in Kiowa County, OK and moved to Norman, OK as a pre-teen. She is a mother to two beautiful children and has lived with her family in South Dakota for the last decade. Chelsea is grateful to have worked with Indigenous communities for more than 15 years across public health practice and research in her current role at the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado School of Public Health and others at the University of South Dakota, University of Oklahoma, and CDC’s Native Diabetes Wellness Program. She earned a BA in sociology and American Indian studies from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (2006), an MPH and MSW from the University of Oklahoma (2010), a graduate certificate in American Indian health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2020), and a DrPH from the Colorado School of Public Health (2025). Chelsea enjoys cooking, gardening, live music, and reading historical fiction. Chelsea’s NCRE Scholars work will focus on conceptualizing and measuring early relational wellbeing and family economic wellbeing among Indigenous families with young children. This research focuses on understanding positive child development from an Indigenous perspective and has potential for informing early substance use and disorder prevention.

Cassidy Armstrong (Muscogee [Creek] Nation)

Phd Student, Oklahoma State University

[email protected]

Cassidy Armstrong is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and is currently a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at Oklahoma State University (OSU). They grew up in Texas and completed their Bachelor's degree in Psychology at Oklahoma State University in 2020. In their free time, Cass enjoys spending time in nature, cooking, curling up with a good book, being active, and traveling.

Currently, Cass is a member of the Cultivating Opportunities that Lead to Equity (COLE) Lab at OSU and works under the mentorship of Dr. Ashley Cole. Cass's research broadly focuses on health behaviors and health inequities among Native populations from both resilience and risk perspectives, with specific emphases on the intergenerational transmission of trauma, historical trauma, and substance use, centering on resilience and protective factors. Cass uses mixed methods in research to incorporate qualitative and quantitative perspectives and has an interest in expanding their knowledge in Indigenous research methodologies to inform their future career path. 

Publications

Cole, A. B., Armstrong, C. M., Giano, Z. D., & Hubach, R. D. (2022). An update on ACEs domain frequencies across race/ethnicity and gender in a nationally representative sample. Child Abuse & Neglect.

Cole, A. B., Armstrong, C. M., Rhoades-Kerswill, S., Lopez, S. V., & Elm, J. (2021). Suicide among American Indian/Alaska Native populations. In E. Jeglic, & R. Miranda (Eds.), Handbook of youth suicide prevention: Integrating research into practice. Springer. 

Graziosi, M., Armstrong, C., Cole, A. B., & Reilly, E. E. (2021). The spiritual dimensions of American Indian life: Considerations for clinical practice. Behavior Therapist. 

Heather Sauyaq Jean Gordon, PhD (Iñupiaq-Nome Eskimo Community)

Principle Consultant, Sauyaq Solutions

[email protected]

Heather Sauyaq (Soy-ugkh) Jean Kwamboka Gordon is the owner and principle consultant at Sauyaq Solutions, working with Indigenous Tribes and communities on research, evaluation, and technical assistance. Heather was born and raised in Homer, Alaska. She is Iñupiaq and an enrolled Tribal member of the Nome Eskimo Community, a federally recognized Tribe. Her Iñupiaq name is Sauyaq which means drum. She works to be a good relative and  advocate for Indigenous people, beating the drum to lift up Indigenous voices.  The Sauyaq or drum is used at all gatherings and ceremonies to bring people together. In some Iñupiaq dialects the word for ‘skin’ of the drum also means ‘future eye’ relating to the ‘eye of awareness’. Heather married into a Kenyan Kisii Tribal family and was gifted the name Kwamboka which means crossing a bridge. She was gifted this name her second visit to Kenya when she was able to move between her own and the Kisii culture.

Heather holds a has a BA in Race and Ethnic Studies (University of Redlands, CA), an MS in Sociology and Community and Environmental Sociology (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and a PhD in Indigenous Studies with a concentration in Indigenous Sustainability (University of Alaska Fairbanks). In her free time, Heather enjoys spending time with family, practicing her subsistence culture, and reading. She was born and raised just outside beautiful Homer, Alaska on her grandmother's reindeer ranch. 

Prior to devoting her time fully to Sauyaq Solutions, she was employed at Child Trends in the Youth Development program, working to improve Indigenous children, youth, and family well-being. Heather was an evaluator in the Division of Program Evaluation and Planning at the Administration for Native Americans in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)  before Child Trends. She has served as a subject matter expert on working with Indigenous people and in that capacity advised the ACF on their work around missing and murdered Native Americans, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) on methodologies appropriate to working with Indigenous people and other populations, Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) on drafting the Arctic Research Plan (ARP) 2022-2026, and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on documents and work around Indigenous Knowledge.

 

Publications

Gordon, H.S.J., & Zukowski, A. (2023). Indigenous Community Projects: Addressing Colonization through Using Culture as a Protective Factor . International Indigenous Policy Journal. 14(2). 

Gordon, H.S.J. (2023). Current policy landscape prevents subsistence protections and practices necessary for Alaska Native children and families’ well-being . Child Trends. 

Gordon, H.S.J. (2023). 5 ways that subsistence practices support Indigenous child and family well-being. Child Trends. 

Gordon, H. S. J., Ross, J. A., Bauer-Armstrong, C., Moreno, M., Byington, R., & Bowman, N. (2023). Integrating Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge of land into land management through Indigenous-academic partnerships. Land Use Policy, 125, 106469.

Gordon, H.S.J. (2022). Alaska Native subsistence rights: Taking an anti-racist de-colonizing approach to land management and ownership for our children and generations to come. Societies 12(3), 72. 

Gordon, H. S. J., & Datta, R. (2021). Indigenous communities defining and utilizing self-determination as an individual and collective capability. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 23(2), 182-205. 

Gordon, H. S. J. (2021). Ethnographic futures research as a method for working with Indigenous communities to develop sustainability indicators. Polar Geography 44(4), 233-254. 

Nicole Reed, MPH (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma)

Project Director, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

[email protected]

Nicole Reed was born and raised in Broken Bow, Oklahoma and is a descendant of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. She graduated from Oklahoma State University with a BS in Health Education and Promotion, and later earned a Master’s degree in Public Health. She is currently attending the University of Colorado, Colorado School of Public Health as a candidate for her Doctor of Public Health. When not working or studying, she enjoys snowboarding, hiking, and spending quality time with her partner and dog, Averi.   

Currently, Nicole is the Project Director for Native WYSE (women, young, strong, empowered) CHOICES research team at the University of Colorado's Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health. This project is an mHealth intervention via phone app to help reduce alcohol exposed pregnancies amongst urban Native young women and to help them make the choices that are the best for them and their future goals. Previously, she was a grant coordinator for Oklahoma State University’s Community Wellness Programs to help reduce the non-medical use of prescription drugs in Tribal communities through policy, prescription drug take-back programs, and community awareness. Her research interests include adolescent health, sexuality-related health disparities, and the relationship between sexual health and substance use.

Publications

Reed, N.D., Peterson, R., Ghost Dog, T., Kaufman, C.E., Kelley, A., & Craig Rushing, S. (2022). Centering Native youths’ needs and priorities: Findings from the 2020 Native Youth Health Tech Survey. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 29(3), 1-17. 

Boland, S.E., Homdayjanakul, K. J., Reed, N.D., Wesner, C., Kaufman, C.E. Jackson, L., & James, K.A. (2021). Addressing the cycle of inaction: A DrPH student perspective on the decolonization of public health. Harvard Public Health Review Journal, 35.

Tuitt, N.R., Shrestha, U., Reed, N.D., Moore, R. S., Sarche, M., & Kaufman, C.E. (2022). Virtual research with urban Native young women: Cautionary tales in the time of a pandemic. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, 16(2 Suppl), 77.

 

Meenakshi Richardson, MPH (Haliwa-Saponi Tribe)

PhD Student, Washington State University

[email protected]

Meenakshi is a citizen of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe, born in Virginia and raised in the Pacific Northwest. Meenakshi received an MPH with a focus on community health education from Bastyr University. Prior to becoming a graduate student in the Prevention Science doctoral program at Washington State University, she was serving tribal and urban Indian communities through health and human services, Indigenous informed systems of care and research, as well as integrating Traditional Indian Medicine practices into direct services.

Meenakshi focuses on the study and practice of cultural teachings in relation to Western praxis, specifically substance use and suicide, to identify and inform community-based prevention and intervention strategies. She aims to examine how risk and protective factors are associated with behavioral health outcomes at different social and ecological levels. She has managed and coordinated research projects and service programs focused on suicide, homelessness, substance use, youth resilience, and gender-based violence prevention. Currently, she is a collaborator on several research projects, including a cultural adaptation and pilot study of a caregiving intervention, working with families with young children in a tribal community to minimize toxic stress and strengthen caregiver-child attachment. She also collaborates with clinicians and practitioners focused on coalition building, multi-generational stress and coping, and the development of culturally grounded interventions and prevention modalities among Indigenous communities.

Publications

Richardson, M., Big-Eagle, T. & Waters, S. F. (2022). A systematic review of trauma intervention adaptions for Indigenous caregivers and children: Insights and implications for reciprocal collaboration. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. 

Alexis Merculief (Aleut)

Phd Candidate, Oregon State University

[email protected]

Alexis is an Aleut tribal member and a current fifth-year doctoral candidate in the Human Development and Family Studies program at Oregon State University. Alexis grew up in Washington State and earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology at Seattle Pacific University in 2013. Alexis then spent several years as an education advocate, social worker, and youth program manager supporting Native children and families in the Seattle area before returning to graduate school in Oregon. For fun, Alexis enjoys hiking, road trips, trying out new recipes, and competing with her trivia team, the Quizzly Bears.

Alexis' research centers on how early childhood executive function skills (EF) influence school readiness and other future health outcomes, specifically for children from underserved communities. Alexis is also interested in how adverse built and social environments (including aspects of neighborhood poverty, exposure to environmental toxins, and experiences of social isolation and discrimination) may influence EF in early childhood. Importantly, her work explores the protective influence of community and cultural resilience factors on EF in the presence of these adverse environments. Alexis hopes to uplift Native communities with her work by using her research to demonstrate how indigenous cultural practices and strong indigenous or tribal identity can predict healthy development in childhood and beyond. In addition, she hopes to use her research to help communities define and measure typical constructs of healthy development (e.g., self-regulation or executive function skills) in ways that are culturally meaningful and relevant to them.

Publications

McClelland, M.M., Gonzales, C.R., Cameron, C.E., Geldhof, G.J., Bowles, R.P, Nancarrow, A.F., Merculief, A., & Tracy, A. (2021). The head-toes-knees-shoulders revised: Links to academic outcomes and measures of EF in young children. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1-14.

Gonzales, C., Merculief, A., McClelland, M.M., & Ghetti, S. (2022). The development of uncertainty monitoring during kindergarten: Change, and longitudinal relations with executive function and vocabulary in children from low‐income backgrounds. Child Development, 93(2), 524-539. 

 

 

Cary Waubanascum, MSW, PhD (Oneida Nation citizen, Menominee, Forest County Potawatomi, Stockbridge-Munsee)

Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

[email protected]

Dr. Cary Waubanascum is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Wakeny^ta (Turtle Clan), with ancestral roots in the Menominee, Forest County Potawatomi, and Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Nations of Wisconsin. She is an Assistant Professor in the Social Work Professional Programs at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay. In July 2021, she earned a doctorate from the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in Mni Sota Makoce. Cary is an Aknulha (Mother/Aunty) to her son, daughter, and many nephews. Along with her husband, Lance, Cary and her family enjoy playing board games, going to the movies, and going on new adventures. 

Cary’s research broadly focuses on decolonization in social work and reclaiming Indigenous lifeways. Her dissertation, titled “This is how we show up for our relatives: Understanding how Indigenous relative caregivers embody traditional kinship to resist the colonial child welfare system,” uncovered specific forms of ongoing colonialism perpetuated by the modern child welfare system. It also highlights the knowledge of Indigenous relative caregivers who are living and passing on their kinship knowledge and practices to resist child welfare systems and protect Indigenous children from ongoing colonialism and removal. Cary’s research is grounded in Indigenous research methodologies, knowledge, and practice, which aims to reclaim and strengthen Indigenous kinship for healing, prevention, and healthy Indigenous futures. Her work has implications for decolonization for Tribes, child welfare, and social work practice, policy, and education. 

Publications

Waubanascum, C. (2021). This is how we show up for our relatives”: Understanding how Indigenous relative caregivers embody traditional kinship to resist the colonial child welfare system. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.

Waubanascum, C., Haight, W., Glesener, D., Day, P., Bussey, B., & Nichols, K. (2022). The Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies: Students’ experiences of an Anishinaabe-centered social work education program. Children and Youth Services Review, 136.

Johnston-Goodstar, K., Waubanascum, C., & Eubanks, D. (In press). Human Services for Indigenous Futures. In Bauerkemper, J. & Webster, R. (Eds.), Tribal Administration Handbook. 

Haight, W., Waubanascum, C., Glesener, D., Day, P., Bussey, B., & Nichols, K. (2020). The Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies: Systems change through a relational Anishinaabe worldview. Children and Youth Services Review, 119, 105601. 

Haight, W., Waubanascum, C., Glesener, D., Day, P., Bussey, B., & Nichols, K. (2019). The Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies: Reducing disparities through Indigenous social work education. Children and Youth Services Review, 100, 156-166.

Haight, W., Waubanascum, C., Glesener, D., & Marsalis, S. (2018). A scoping study of Indigenous child welfare: The long emergency and preparations for the next seven generations. Children and Youth Services Review, 93, 397-410.

 

 

Lauren White, MSW (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma)

PhD Student, University of Michigan

[email protected]

Lauren White is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and she grew up playing outside and gardening with her family on the post-removal lands of the Choctaw Nation in Southeastern Oklahoma. As a young adult, Lauren moved to Seattle where she met her husband, Travis, and spent almost 10 years working in research administration and earning an MPH in Epidemiology at the University of Washington. Currently, she lives with her husband and two dogs in Ypsilanti, Michigan, as she completes her PhD in Social Work and Social Psychology at the University of Michigan.

Lauren's research focuses on strengths-based interventions, especially those centering self-determination for Native people through the development and implementation of interventions for anxiety, depression, and suicide prevention. Her current work is focused on interventions that expand upon clinical approaches through culturally responsive and community-led upstream interventions for adolescent suicide prevention. Lauren uses Mixed Methods in her research and is excited about combining qualitative, quantitative, and Indigenous theories of rigor in her research partnerships with Native tribes and organizations. Her career goal is to serve in a position teaching and mentoring Native students and conducting research that partners with rural and Indigenous communities to spark institutional changes in the way we tackle mental health. 

Publications

Kuhn, N., Sarkar, S., White, L. A., Hoy, J., McCray, C., & Lefthand-Begay, C. (2020). Decolonizing risk communication: Indigenous responses to COVID-19 using social media. Journal of Indigenous Social Development, 9(3), 193-213.

Kapos, F. P., White, L. A., Schmidt, K. A., Hawes, S. E., & Starr, J. R. (2020). Risk of non-syndromic orofacial clefts by maternal rural-urban residence and race/ethnicity: A population-based case-control study in Washington State 1989-2014. Paediatric and
Perinatal Epidemiology, 35(3), 292-301. 

Rogers, L. O., Kiang, L., White, L. A., Calzada, E. J., Umaña-Taylor, A. J., Byrd, C., ... & Whitesell, N. (2020). Persistent concerns: Questions for research on ethnic-racial identity development. Research in Human Development, 17(2-3), 130-153.

Williams, C. D., Byrd, C. M., Quintana, S. M., Anicama, C., Kiang, L., Umaña-Taylor, A. J., Calzada, E.J., Gautier, M. P. Ejsi, K., Tuitt, N. R., Martinez-Fuentes, S., White, L. A., Marks, A., Rogers, L. O., & Whitesell, N., (2020). A lifespan model of ethnic-racial identity. Research in Human Development, 17(2-3), 99-129. 

Trout, L., McEachern, D., Mullany, A., White, L. A., & Wexler, L. (2018). Decoloniality as a framework for Indigenous youth suicide prevention pedagogy: Promoting community conversations about research to end suicide. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(3-4), 396-405.

 

 

Rebecca Ipiaqruk Young, MA (Kawerak Iñupiaq; Adopted into the Galyáx Kaagwaantaan [Eagle Beaver-Wolf] clan of Yakutat, Alaska)

PhD Student, University of Alaska Anchorage

[email protected]

Rebecca Ipiaqruk Young is Kawerak Iñupiaq (tribal member of Unalakleet) and second-generation Cuban-American who was adopted into the Galyáx Kaagwaantaan (Eagle Beaver Wolf) clan of Yakutat, Alaska. She lives and learns on the ancestral land of the Dena'ina People, currently known as Anchorage, Alaska. She earned her master's degree in counseling psychology from Alaska Pacific University and is currently a third-year doctoral student in the clinical-community psychology (with an Indigenous and rural emphasis) program at the University of Alaska Anchorage. With the help of her ancestors, Rebecca is a protector of cultural sovereignty through decolonization and believes decolonization can awaken healing traditions and restore balance for the interest of all beings, seen and unseen. Rebecca enjoys connecting with Elders, gardening from seed, picking berries, and preparing salmon for smoking and canning.  

Rebecca has been in serviceship for the Alaska Native (AN) Community Advancement into Psychology program for the past two years and was an Alaska Area Health Education Centers scholar. Rebecca is currently a research assistant on a Sustainable Development Working Group project for the Arctic Council, collaborating with Tribal communities in Southwest Alaska to understand perspectives on the local responses to regional, state, and federal COVID-19 related policies. She recently completed a study that explored the potential moderating effect of AN spirituality and cultural connectedness on the relationship between historical loss and well-being. The hierarchical linear regression analyses suggested that high cultural connectedness significantly moderated the relationship between thoughts about historical loss and psychological, occupational, and economic wellbeing. Rebecca hopes to join Elders and communities to further explore cultural connectedness in terms of behavioral interventions that have the potential to mitigate social consequences of historical loss and improve the quality of life for AN children, families, and tribes. As a clinician, Rebecca has been a licensed professional counselor for ten years and is also a certified brain injury specialist. She is currently pursuing further education and training in neurocognitive assessment and rehabilitative care related to acquired traumatic brain injury.

Emma Elliott-Groves, PhD, MSW (Cowichan)

Assistant Professor, University of Washington

[email protected]

Emma Elliott-Groves is an enrolled member of the Cowichan Tribes on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She grew up in Deerholme and Quamichan and is grateful for her ancestral territories, cultural and ceremonial practices, and community for showing her what it means to be a xwulmuxw mustímuxw (First Nations) person. She values spending time with her husband and two young children. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Learning Sciences and Human Development in the College of Education at the University of Washington. She holds both a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and a Master of Social Work in Children, Youth, and Families.

A large part of her research centers on understanding the meanings and explanations of suicidal behavior from the perspective of Indigenous peoples. By employing a strengths-based approach to recovery, Emma rigorously engages youth, families, and communities in the development of integrated behavioral health interventions to address complex social issues including those that are relevant to youth substance use prevention. Her research centers ethical frameworks generated by Indigenous and land-based knowledges and practices to create process-centered approaches that illuminate Indigenous pathways toward collective livelihood. Emma is currently partnering with members of the Cowichan Tribes in a research study aimed at identifying the physical, mental, intellectual, and cultural health of the community by engaging Indigenous ways of knowing. The interdisciplinary intersections of her research include contemporary Indigenous issues; culture, learning, and human development; and trauma, prevention, and recovery.

Publications

Elliott-Groves, E., Hardison-Stevens, D., & Ullrich, J. (accepted). Indigenous Relationality is the Heartbeat of Indigenous Existence during COVID-19. [Special issue]. Journal of Indigenous Social Development. (Eds. Mataira, P, Araullo Tanemura Morelli, P., & Spencer, M.).

Henne–Ochoa, R., Elliott–Groves, E., Meek, B. A., & Rogoff, B. (2020). Pathways forward for Indigenous language reclamation: Engaging Indigenous epistemology and learning by observing and pitching in to family and community endeavors. The Modern Language Journal, 104(2), 481-493.

Elliott-Groves, E. (2019). A culturally-grounded biopsychosocial assessment utilizing Indigenous ways of knowing with the Cowichan Tribes. [Special issue]. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, Advances in Social Work Practice with Multicultural Communities, 17(4), 115-133. 

Elliott-Groves, E. (2018). Insights from Cowichan: A hybrid approach to understanding suicide in one First Nations’ Collective. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 48(3), 328-339. 

Elliott-Groves, E., & Fryberg, S. (2017). “A future denied” for 21st century Indigenous youth: Reclaiming the future. [Handbook Chapter]. Handbook of Indigenous Education. (Eds. McKinley, E. & Smith, L.T.). Springer, Singapore. 

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Amanda Hunter, PhD, MPH (Pascua Yaqui)

Postdoctoral Scholar, Northern Arizona University

[email protected]

Amanda Hunter is a citizen of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and was born and raised in Tucson, AZ. Amanda recently moved to Flagstaff, Arizona and enjoys spending time exploring outdoors with her family. She loves to hike, camp, read fiction novels, and has recently picked up a love for disc golf. In 2020, she graduated with a PhD from the Health Promotion Sciences Department at the University of Arizona’s Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Amanda also earned her Master’s in Public Health from the University of Arizona. Amanda is currently a postdoctoral scholar with Northern Arizona University’s Center for Health Equity Research. She is working under the supervision of Dr. Julie Baldwin and also working towards a graduate certificate in Translational Research in Adolescent Behavioral Health.

Amanda’s research focuses on the impact of cultural engagement and cultural identity on mental and behavioral health outcomes in Indigenous youth. Her dissertation research involved developing, implementing, and evaluating a culturally-grounded after school program on an urban-based reservation. Amanda is interested in continuing to develop culturally-grounded after school programs for Indigenous youth and is currently seeking funding to work with more communities in Arizona. Her goal is to learn about how increasing cultural engagement can positively impact Indigenous communities while helping youth avoid risky behaviors, including substance use. Amanda is also excited about creating positive and mutually beneficial partnerships between tribal communities and academic settings.

Publications

Hunter, A. M., & Tippeconic-Fox, M. J. (2020). Strengthening the link between education policy, culturally responsive schooling, and American Indian and Alaska Native Health. Journal of Indigenous Early Childhood Education, 1(1), 15-28. 

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Susanna Lopez, MS

PhD Candidate, Oklahoma State University

[email protected]

Susanna (“Susie”) Lopez grew up in Amarillo, TX and is currently a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at Oklahoma State University. This year, Susie is applying for predoctoral internship positions where she hopes to gain clinical experiences in addictions treatment and behavioral medicine, and aims to serve American Indian and other diverse and underserved populations. Her long-term career goal is to become an independent clinical health psychologist at an academic health and research institution. In her spare time, Susie enjoys yoga, crocheting, and playing her violin.

Susie’s research centers on psychosocial factors related to alcohol use among college students, risk factors for alcohol use and subsequent risky sexual behavior, and responses to alcohol-related health messaging and brief interventions such as personalized feedback interventions (PFIs). She aims to understand college student drinking patterns through a social normative lens, as high-risk drinking during this age is so often a social activity. Her dissertation examines social norms as a factor of drinking among American Indian college students, and analyzes strength of ethnic identity as a protective factor against drinking. This study is her first in a program of research aiming to develop a web-based PFI for American Indian college students in a way that is feasible, acceptable, and culturally sensitive.

Publications

Lopez, S.V., & Leffingwell, T. R. (2020). The role of unrealistic optimism in college student risky sexual behavior. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 15(2), 201-217.

Lopez, S. V., Leffingwell, T. R., Brett, E. I., & Leavens, E. L. (2019). Temporal estimations and subjective evaluations of alcohol consequences. American Journal of Health Behavior, 43(5), 1006-1015. 

Cole, A. B., Leavens, E. L. S., Brett, E. I., Lopez, S. V., Pipestem, K. P., Tucker, R. P., O’Keefe, V. M., Leffingwell, T. R., & Wingate, L. R. (2019). Alcohol use and the interpersonal theory of suicide in American Indian young adults. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 19(4), 537-552. 

Brett, E. I., Espeleta, H. C., Lopez, S. V., Leavens, E. L. S., & Leffingwell, T. R. (2018). Mindfulness as a mediator of association between alcohol consequences and adverse childhood experiences. Addictive Behaviors, 84, 92-98.

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Tammy Martin, PhD (Native Hawaiian)

Assistant Professor, Hawai’i Pacific University 

[email protected]

Tammy Martin is a Native Hawaiian community researcher who was born and raised on the island of Oʻahu. As an Indigenous health scientist, she has embraced her kuleana (responsibility) bestowed upon her by her kupuna (elder) and ʻohana (family) to serve and uplift Native Hawaiian children and families. She earned a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and is currently a full-time Assistant Professor at Hawaiʻi Pacific University. Her doctoral research focused on developing a conceptual framework for the pathways to post-traumatic growth (positive psychological change through overcoming adversity) and healing of formerly incarcerated Native Hawaiian women. She enjoys spending time with family and learning about Hawaiian sacred sites and cultural practices. As a vocalist, hula dancer, and actress, she has travelled to China, Japan, Germany, Tahiti, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and throughout the Hawaiian islands. 

Tammy’s research interests are focused on understanding substance use disorders, trauma, and treatment-seeking behavior among Native Hawaiian children and families. She is committed to interrupting the intergenerational cycle of trauma and abuse associated with substance use disorders within Native Hawaiian communities. Her research aims to closely examine the cultural and community barriers and facilitators to treatment seeking among those engaged in crystal-methamphetamine and opioid use. Through her research endeavors, she intends to develop community-informed and culturally-based substance use interventions that infuse indigenous cultural practices into substance use treatment. Tammy’s long term career goal is to improve the lives of Native Hawaiian children and their families by promoting healing, increasing social-emotional well-being, and strengthening overall family functioning. 

Publications

Martin, T. (2019). Ho'ala hou o nā wahine Maoli: Reawakening of Native Hawaiian women exploring the pathways to posttraumatic growth and healing of formerly incarcerated Native Hawaiian female trauma survivors (Doctoral Dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global Database. (UMI No. 13884126). 

Martin, T. & Godinet, M. (2018). Using the lōkahi wheel: A culturally sensitive approach to engage Native Hawaiians in child welfare services. Journal of Indigenous Social Development, 7(2), 22-40.

Martin, T., Paglinawan, L., & Paglinawan, R. (2014). Pathways to Healing the Native Hawaiian Spirit through Culturally Competent Practice in M.T. Godinet & H.F.O. Vakalahi (Eds.), Pacific People and Transnational Pacific Islander Americans and Social Work: Dancing to the beat of a different drum, (pp. 55-90). Washington, DC: NASW Press.

Duponte, K., Martin, T., Mokuau, N., & Paglinawan, L. (2010). ‘Ike Hawai‘i – A training program for working with Native Hawaiians. Journal of Indigenous Voices in Social Work, 1(1), 1-24. 

 

Sarah Momilani Marshall, PhD (Native Hawaiian)

Postdoctoral Researcher, Hawai‘i Pacific University

[email protected]

Momilani is of Native Hawaiian descent and lives on Hawai‘i Island. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family, traveling, reading, gardening, and bee keeping. Her family lives in the rural community of Papaikou, homesteading on property which has been in her family for seven generations. Her favorite place in the world is at the family's waterfall, Awaloa. She received her Masters in Social Work from San José State University with a specialization in school social work. She received her PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa where her research focused on human trafficking and social policy. Her clinical experience has encompassed numerous community-level and population-level public health issues, including substance abuse, domestic violence, sex trafficking, and school-based behavioral disorders.

As a researcher, Momilani is currently interested in the potential of community based charter schools to improve the academic achievement and social-emotional well-being of Native students through place-based, culturally-grounded education. She is focused on understanding the social and behavioral determinants of health, especially family factors contributing to substance use among rural Native Hawaiian youth. Her current research project builds upon a culturally-grounded, school-based prevention intervention, Ho‘ouna Pono, and seeks to adapt it for family- and community based agencies. Her academic training and research experience have solidified her commitment to pursue research that empowers Hawai‘i’s underserved indigenous population and to address pervasive health inequities that continue to affect Hawai‘i’s Native communities.

Publications

Guo, J., Marshall, S., Glasser, J.L., & Spillers, J. (2015). Learning global social conditions: A broader view for social work students. Social Work Education, 35(1), 3- 17.

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Helen Russette, MPH (Chippewa-Cree)

Doctoral Student, University of Montana

[email protected]

Helen Russette is a member to the Chippewa-Cree Tribe and was born and raised on Rocky Boy’s Reservation. Currently, she completed her third year as a doctoral student in Public Health and is an adjunct instructor in the Native American Studies department at the University of Montana. She is grateful to serve Indian Country and plans to continue to serve Indian Country for all of her academic and professional career. Her career goal is to become a research investigator and continue to teach on population-level health outcomes.

Her general research interest centers on applying a health equity lens when conducting research to better identify sub-groups that experience worse or compounded health outcomes. This approach enables tailored interventions that directly benefit a community, especially for Native Americans, whom have been historically absent in research studies. Current research efforts involve identifying and measuring culturally-sensitive and community-relevant tailored interventions for opioid and other drug misuse among pregnant women that reside on a federal Indian reservation. With support and guidance from Professor Erin Semmens, the Principal Investigator for their current research project, she is actively working with Early Childhood Services and Community Advisory Team members from one Montana federal Indian reservation to identify and measure culturally-sensitive and community-relevant interventions among Native Americans with children, ages 0 to 3 that were prenatally exposed to opioids, methamphetamine, or other drugs. Her dissertation proposal focuses on family-infant engagement and greenspace exposure as main effects on behavioral dysfunction that is often associated with in utero drug exposure among children. This year, she is also measuring greenspace exposure and poverty as main effects to COVID-19 mortalities across the United States.

Publications

Russette, H.C., Harris, K.J., Schuldberg, D., & Green, L. (2014). Policy Compliance of Smokers on a Tobacco-Free University Campus. Journal of American College Health, 62(2), 110-116.

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Jessica Saniguq Ullrich, PhD (Nome Eskimo Community)

Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, University of Alaska Anchorage

[email protected]

Jessica Saniguq Ullrich is an Inupiaq tribal member of Nome Eskimo Community, a descendent of Wales, Alaska and a proud mother to two children. Her social work background has primarily been within the field of child welfare. Jessica graduated from the University of Washington with a doctorate degree in Social Welfare and accepted an Assistant Professor faculty position at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Jessica loves to walk through the forests, be near the ocean and pick berries in the fall time.

Through community partnership, Jessica’s dissertation focused on building a conceptual framework of Alaska Native child wellbeing using Indigenous storytelling methods. Alaska Native foster care alumni, relatives and foster parent knowledge bearers were interviewed. Jessica hopes to continue to learn about Alaska Native child wellbeing from more key community members such as parents and Elders. The hope is for this shared Indigenous knowledge to improve social outcomes for children and to provide a theoretical foundation for substance use and mental health prevention programs. Children need to know who they are and where they come from, and this is something that is taught through cultural and spiritual ways of Indigenous connectedness.

Publications

Ullrich, J. S. (2019). For the love of our children: an Indigenous connectedness framework. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 15(2), 121-130. 

Ullrich, J. S. (2020). Indigenous Connectedness as a Framework for Relational Healing within Alaska Native Child Welfare (Doctoral dissertation). 

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Evan J. White, PhD (Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma)

Associate Investigator, Laureate Institute for Brain Research 

[email protected]

Evan is a member of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and belongs to the White Oak ceremonial ground and Turtle Clan. He grew up in Tulsa, OK and completed his graduate training in Oklahoma State University’s Clinical Psychology program under the mentorship of DeMond Grant, PhD. He is married to his lovely wife Natalie (6+ years) and welcomed his first child Benjamin into the world in June 2020. He is currently an associate investigator at Laureate Institute for Brain Research (LIBR) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He loves spending time outdoors and hanging out with friends and family.

Evan's research program broadly aims to understand risk and protective factors for psychopathology with a particular focus on using psychophysiological techniques (i.e., event-related potentials) to test cognitive theories. His previous work has demonstrated how various executive functions (e.g., cognitive control, error monitoring) are related to symptoms of anxiety. Recently, he has extended his line of work to understand protective factors against mental health problems among American Indian populations. This line of work is aimed at understanding how cultural characteristics (1) play a protective role against poor mental health (e.g., substance abuse, suicide) and (2) influence the developmental trajectory of resilience among adolescents. He plans to leverage advances in neuroscience to accomplish these aims and a long-term goal of developing cultural-neuroscience informed prevention and intervention efforts. One current project he is working on is examining neural correlates of resilience among American Indian populations and on the developmental trajectory of resilience against poor mental health (e.g., substance abuse, suicide) among adolescents. 

Publications

White, E.J., & Grant, D.M. (2017). Electrocortical consequences of image processing: The influence of working memory and worry. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 261, 1-8. 

White, E.J., Kraines, M., Tucker, R.P., Wingate, L.R., Wells. T.T., Grant, D.M. (2017). The effect of rumination, grit, and gratitude on suicidal ideation: A path analysis study. Psychiatry Research, 251, 97-102. 

White, E.J., Grant, DM., Taylor, D.L., Frosio, K.E., Judah, M.R., & Mills, A.C. (2018) Examination of evaluative threat in worry: Insights from the Error-Related Negativity (ERN). Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 282, 40-46.

White, E.J., Grant, D.M., Taylor, D.L., Kraft, J.D., & Frosio, K.E (in press). The influence of state worry on covert selective attention and suppression of threating distractors: An ERP study. Psychology & Neuroscience.

Ashley Cole, PhD (Citizen Potawatomi Nation)

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University

[email protected]

Ashley is an enrolled tribal member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma. She was born in Oklahoma City and raised in Norman, OK. Ashley completed her Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Psychology from the University of Oklahoma in 2011. As an undergraduate student, she participated in the American Indians Into Psychology (AIIP) Summer Enrichment Program at Oklahoma State University (OSU). Ashley went on to receive her Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Clinical Psychology from OSU in 2014 and 2018, respectively. Following the completion of her pre-doctoral psychology internship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (APA-Accredited), Ashley returned to OSU for a Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship, and she accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Psychology at OSU in fall 2019. In her free time, Ashley enjoys traveling, being outdoors, and watching documentaries.

Ashley's research examines American Indian/Alaska Native/Indigenous health disparities and health behaviors (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, and substance use; eating patterns and exercise; and depression and suicidality) from both silence and risk perspectives. She currently has an NIH/NCI funded Diversity Supplement grant (R01CA221819-01A1; PI: Businelle) to conduct interviews with American Indians following their 6-month experience with a smoking cessation intervention delivered via smartphone apps to determine their perceived usability. Results of this study will be used to inform cultural modification of smoking cessation smartphone apps.

Publications

Hawkins, M. A. W., Colaizzi, J. M., Cole, A. B., Keirns, N. G., Smith, C. E., Stout, M. E., Chaney, J., Sawhney, M., & Gahn, D. (In press). Pilot trial of acceptance based behavioral weight loss and neurocognition among American Indians. Behavior Therapy.

Cole, A. B., Littlefield, A. K., Gauthier, J. M., & Bagge, C. L. (2019). Impulsivity facets and perceived likelihood of future suicide attempt among patients who recently attempted suicide. Journal of Affective Disorders, 257(1), 195-199.

Cole, A. B., Leavens, E. L., Brett, E. I., Lopez, S. V., Pipestem, K. R., Tucker, R. P., O’Keefe, V. M., Leffingwell, T. R., & Wingate, L. R. (2019). Alcohol use and the interpersonal theory of suicide in American Indian young adults. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 1-16. 

O’Keefe, V. M., Tucker, R. P., Cole, A. B., Hollingsworth, D. W., & Wingate, L. R. (2018). Understanding Indigenous suicide through a theoretical lens: a review of general, culturally based, and Indigenous frameworks. Transcultural Psychiatry, 55(6), 775-799. 

 

 

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Jennifer Richards, PhD, MPH (Diné/Lakota/Taos) 

Assistant Scientist, Center for American Indian Health, John Hopkins University

[email protected]

Jennifer Richards is Navajo, Oglala Lakota, and Taos Pueblo. She was born and raised on the Navajo Nation in Tuba City, Arizona. She is Áshįįhi (Salt) clan, born for the Oglala Lakota Oyate. Her maternal grandfather is from Taos Pueblo, New Mexico and her paternal grandfather is from Allen, South Dakota. She is a proud mother to her 10-year-old Michael.

Jennifer's dissertation was titled, “Applying Indigenous Research Methodologies to Inform a Strengths-Based Mother-Daughter Preconception Health Curriculum on the Navajo Nation.” She is also a Co-Investigator on two Navajo Nation JHCAIH projects: Asdzaan Be’eena’ Female Pathways Program; and Replication of Respecting the Circle of Life - Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. Her research interests include preventing American Indian (AI) health disparities through maternal and child health (MCH) interventions, rural health equity, and Indigenous research methodologies. In the future, she aims to develop innovative AI MCH interventions using community-based participatory and Indigenous research approaches.

Publications

Kenney, A., Chambers, R., Rosenstock, S., Neault, N., Richards, J., Reid, R., Nelson, L., Begay, M., Grass, R., Parker, S., & Barlow, A. (2016). The Impact of a Home-Based Diabetes Prevention and Management Program on High-Risk American Indian Youth. Diabetes Educator, 42(5), 585-595.

Jerreed Ivanich, PhD (Metlakatla Indian Community)

Assistant Professor, Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

[email protected]

Jerreed is Tsimshian and proud member of the Metlakatla Indian Community located in Southeast Alaska. Jerreed is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado’s Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health. He completed his PhD in sociology at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and a postdoc at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health with the Center for American Indian Health. His family (wife and two beautiful girls) are extremely supportive of his work. When Jerreed is not working he can be found on the road cycling, watching movies or playing games with his family, or working on house projects.

As a member of the Metlakatla Indian Community of Alaska, Jerreed is dedicated to health research for North American Indigenous (Alaska Native, American Indian, First Nations) populations. Jerreed is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health, Colorado School of Public Health. His primary affiliation is with the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health. His work meets at the intersections of prevention science, social network analysis, and adolescent mental health. Through community-based participatory research Jerreed aims to take the knowledge and strengths of communities and put them in dialogue with the broader research field to improve theory, advance methods, and have broad public health impact.

Publications

Ivanich, J. D., & Teasdale, B. (2018). Suicide ideation among adolescent American Indians: An application of General Strain Theory. Deviant Behavior, 39(6), 702-715. 

Wexler, L., Rataj, S., Ivanich, J. D., Plavin, J., Mullany, A., Moto, R., Kirk, T., Goldwater, E., Johnson, R., & Dombrowski, K. (2019). Community mobilization for rural suicide prevention: perceived knowledge, skills, attitudes and behavioral outcomes from promoting community conversations about research to end suicide (PC CARES) in Northwest Alaska. Social Science & Medicine, 232, 398-407.

 

 

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Katie Schultz, PhD, MSW (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma)

Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan

[email protected]

Katie is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma raised in Cordova, a small fishing community in Alaska. She also lived nearly 20 years in Washington State and these places and communities inform her work. Katie received her MSW and PhD from the University of Washington. Prior to her PhD, she was the Administrative Director of the University’s Indigenous Wellness Research Institute. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship with the Center for Mental Health Services at Washington University in St. Louis before moving to Michigan. 

Katie focuses her research on manifestations of violence and health equity among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations. She examines violence and associated health outcomes; community and cultural connectedness; and culturally-derived interventions. Some of her recent work includes investigating relationships between intimate partner violence, drug use and other health outcomes among Native women as well as dating and relationships among AI/AN adolescents. She is currently the Principal Investigator of a study that seeks to identify modifiable risk (violence and substance misuse) and protective (cultural practices and beliefs) factors associated with lowered recidivism among AI/AN women on probation or parole in Alaska (NIDA; 1R21DA050518). She is also a faculty affiliate with the Vivian A. and James L. Curtis Center for Health Equity Research and Training at the University of Michigan School of Social Work where she is co-leading a collaboration with Uniting Three Fires Against Violence, a statewide tribal domestic violence and sexual assault coalition, to develop research to address violence and health equity among tribal communities in Michigan. 

Publications

Schultz, K., Walls, M., & Grana, S. (2019). Intimate partner violence and health: The roles of social support and communal mastery in five American Indian communities. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1-22.

Schultz, K., Teyra, C., Breiler, G., Evans-Campbell, T., & Pearson, C. (2018). “They gave me life”: Motherhood and recovery in a tribal community. Substance Use & Misuse, 53(12), 1965-1973. 

Schultz, K., Walters, K.L., Beltrán, R., Stroud, S., & Johnson-Jennings, M. (2016). “I’m stronger than I thought”: Native women reconnecting to body, health, and place. Health & Place, 40, 21-28. 

Schultz, K., Cattaneo, L. B., Sabina, C., Brunner, L., Jackson, S., & Serrata, J. V. (2016). Key roles of community connectedness in healing from trauma. Psychology of Violence, 6(1), 42-48. 

Jessica Elm, PhD (Oneida Nation and Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohicans)

Postdoctoral Researcher, Center for American Indian Health, Johns Hopkins University

[email protected]

Jessica grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where her adult son still lives. She values perseverance, humility, meeting people and communities 'where they are at', and social justice. These values are strongly linked to her identity as an Oneida tribal citizen, a descendant of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohicans, a social worker, and as a Dr. Fauci fan. Jessica enjoys belly laughing, helping others to belly laugh, otter cam watching, interacting with people from diverse backgrounds, connecting people with one another and with resources, and uplifting friends and colleagues. Jessica’s life experiences, values, and identities informed her decision to earn three degrees in social work/social welfare from San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley/Cal, and University of Washington and her career decisions. Coming from a background of providing direct patient health care, with experience in behavioral health, child and family services, program development, and federal Indian policy, she remains committed to serving Native people and organizations through offering practical research implication that honor the biopsychosocial and spiritual diversity that exists within Indian Country.

Jessica aims to address community defined needs while recognizing historically traumatic events as sources of contemporary stress and health inequities among American Indians. Her scholarship is centered on two primary areas: 1) examining social stressor exposures and corresponding risk for substance misuse, mental health challenges, and poor chronic disease management and 2) identifying individual, family, community, and cultural strengths which can lead to pathways of resilience and recovery. In the future Dr. Elm hopes to work more closely with tribal governments so that tribal leaders can utilize data for decision making regarding health care and promotion, and child welfare.

Publications

Elm, J. H. L. (2020). Adverse Childhood Experiences and Internalizing Symptoms Among American Indian Adults with Type 2 Diabetes. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. 

Elm, J.H.L., Walls, M.L., & Aronson, B.D. (2019). Sources of stress among Midwest American Indian adults with type 2 diabetes. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 26(1), 33-62.

Elm, J., & Handeland, T. (2019). Momentum and Longevity for Tribally Driven Health Equity Science: Evidence from the Gathering for Health Project. Human Biology, 91(3), 153-162.

Elm, J. H. L., Lewis, J. P., Walters, K. L., Self, J. M., Elm, J. H. L., Lewis, J. P., Walters, K. L., & Self, J. M. (2016). “I’m in this world for a reason”: Resilience and recovery among American Indian and Alaska Native two-spirit women. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 20(3–4), 352–371. 

 

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Susan Beaulieu (Anishinaabe, Red Lake Nation)

Tribal Community Facilitator of Tribal N.E.A.R. Science and Community Wisdom Project, University of Minnesota Extension

[email protected]

Susan is a mother of 4 and currently resides in central Minnesota with her partner of 14 years.

Susan currently works for the University of Minnesota Extension as a Tribal Community Facilitator working with Anishinaabe tribes in northern Minnesota on opioid misuse reduction and generating greater community wellbeing. She is passionate about working with Indigenous people at the individual and collective levels to increase health and wellbeing through re-balancing our mind/body/spirit and reconnecting to our Indigenous
traditions, values and medicines. She believes Indigenous people already possess the strength and knowledge they need to shift from surviving to thriving, they just have to remember and awaken to it.

 

Brady Garrett, PhD (Cherokee Nation)

Epidemiologist, Cherokee Nation Public Health

[email protected]

Brady was born and raised in Oklahoma and is a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK. He completed his PhD in counseling psychology from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM in 2013.He is a licensed health service psychologist in the state of Oklahoma and currently lives in his home community of Checotah. He enjoys hiking, watching baseball games, and spending time on the Illinois River.

Brady currently works for Cherokee Nation Public Health as an epidemiologist on a CDC-funded opioid prevention grant. His role on this project includes design of a opioid risk community survey, data collection and analysis, planning of prevention intervention strategies, and surveillance system development. His post-doctoral training (including NCRE) in epidemiology and research design has been vital to his job duties at Cherokee Nation Public Health. His research interests focus on Native American health disparities in relation to substance use among Native adolescents and adults. His is currently pursing an MPH at Johns Hopkins University through the Bloomberg American Health Initiative and hopes to expand his public health research knowledge to tackle substance use disparities that exist in Cherokee Nation. He is also completing a study examining the association between Native cultural identity, historical loss, and discrimination and a popular psychological assessment tool —the MMPI-2-RF.

Publications

Garrett, B.A., Livingston, B.J., Livingston, M.D., & Komro, K.A. (2017). The effects of perceived racial/ethnic discrimination on substance use among youths living in the Cherokee Nation. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, 26(3), 242-249. 

 

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Kyle Hill, PhD, MPH (Ojibwe, Dakota, Lakota; Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe)

Licensed Psychologist, Phoenix Medical Center, Indian Health Service

Associate Faculty, Center for American Indian Health, John Hopkins University

[email protected]

Kyle received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Dakota, completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota at the Research for Indigenous Community Health Center. Joining the Center for American Indian Health (CAIH) at Johns Hopkins University in December, 2014, Dr. Hill works with the Social/Behavioral health research team to elucidate the protective function of social networks in efforts toward preventing youth suicide. Dr. Hill recently received his MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and completed the Public Health Training Certificate in American Indian Health. He is currently completing IHS scholarship repayment at the Indian Health Board in Minneapolis, MN, as the APA clinical training director/staff psychologist.

Kyle's research interests include investigating the protective impact of cultural engagement/identity in the prevention of suicide, substance abuse, diabetes and depression, as well as investigating how Indigenous epistemologies and ethno-psychologies can influence associated mental/behavioral health care models in American Indian communities.

Publications

Hill, K., Eck, K. V., Goklish, N., Larzelere-Hinton, F., Cwik, M. (2018). Factor Structure and Validity of the SIQ-JR in a Southwest American Indian Tribe. Psychological Services. Published online November, 26, 2018.

Ashleigh Coser, PhD (Muscogee [Creek], Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nation)

Health Service Psychologist, Cherokee Nation

[email protected]

Ashleigh Coser (Muscogee [Creek], Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations) belongs to the Kvsetv Tribal Town and Fox Clan. She is the daughter of Dr. Pete and JoAnna Coser of Stillwater, OK. She graduated from the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program at Oklahoma State University in 2018. She is currently completing her postdoctoral residency at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Integrated Behavior Health and specializing in the prevention of child maltreatment.

Ashleigh’s research interests include the examination of the parent-child relationship among American Indian families and the involvement of extended family in raising children. Moreover, she is interested in examining parenting behavior resulting in optimal child development. Recently she has been working on research investigating caregiver and program factors influencing service engagement and treatment completion of home-based services. Following the completion of her postdoc, Ashleigh will be working with Indian Health Service or tribal community in integrated behavioral health.

Publications

Shields, J., Coser, A., Beasley, L., & Silovsky, J. (2020). A qualitative examination of factors impacting family engagement in treatment for youth with problematic sexual behavior. Children and Youth Services Review, 108, 1-8.

 

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Miigis Gonzalez, PhD (Ojibwe)

Research Associate, John Hopkins University Center for American Indian Health

[email protected]

Miigis is from the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation in Northern Wisconsin. She is a mother of two amazing children (3 and 1 years of age) and a dedicated auntie to many more. Her partner, Solomon Trimble and her hope to be blessed with a few more children in the future, as they both value big, close families. Her family has spent their summers at tribal ceremonies, dancing at powwows, and spending time with extended relatives. Miigis personally loves to bead and sew woodland floral designs for friends and family; she is constantly working on projects in order to gift her many helpers in life.

Miigis's work has been focused on language, culture, and wellbeing in Indigenous communities. She is a health researcher and an advocate for language and cultural revitalization. As a health researcher, she is driven to better understand how we can leverage our traditional ways and our traditional mindset for improved wellbeing of our community members and our environment. She attempts to improve the way in which culture and wellbeing are represented, measured, and interpreted in current projects. As a community leader, she wants to build research support in order to expand the reach of cultural resources. She truly believes that if Indigenous people can return to their traditional ways, more of people will live healthy and happy lives, improving the way we take care of ourselves, each other, and the earth.

Publications

Gonzalez, M.B., Aronson, B.D., Kellar, S., Walls, M.L, Greenfield, B.L. (2017). Language as a facilitator of cultural connection. AbOriginal, 1(2):176-194.

 

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Angela L. Walden, PhD (Cherokee Nation)

Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago

[email protected]

Dr. Angela Walden is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Angela is from Choctaw, Oklahoma and currently lives in Chicago, Illinois. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from California Polytechnic State University and Master of Arts and Doctoral Degrees in Clinical-Community Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral training at the Institute for Juvenile Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In her free time, Dr. Walden enjoys baking (and eating!) blackberry pies, looking for vintage fabric and patterns to make 60s and 70s era clothing, and quoting 90s era Saturday Night Live sketches and movies with fellow aficionado and NCRE cohort member, Dr. Ashleigh Coser. 

Dr. Walden’s research focuses on community-based prevention and intervention with high-risk populations (e.g., American Indians/Native Americans living in urban areas; juvenile justice involved youth). Her specific interests include quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research designs to examine the development, implementation, and evaluation of community-based interventions; implementation and transportation of innovative and effective treatments and practices in novel community settings; the infusion of intervention practices into existing non-mental health settings and through the actions of non-mental health workforces (e.g., juvenile corrections staff); and factors that contribute to mental health disparities among members of high-needs, underserved populations. Dr. Walden recently completed a qualitative study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health examining community readiness to address STIs/HIV and intimate partner violence within an urban American Indian community.

Publications

Walden, A.L., & West, A.E. (2019). American Indian researcher perspectives on qualitative inquiry about and within American Indian communities. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(1-2), 83-95.

Walden, A.L., & Allen, N.E. (2019). Examining correctional staff members’ engagement in rehabilitation as part of their everyday practices in short-term juvenile detention. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(3-4), 310-320.

Walden, A.L., Joseph, N., & Verona, E. (2019). Reaching underserved youth: A pilot implementation of a skills-based intervention in short-term juvenile detention. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 47(2), 90-103.

Tara Ford

Vanessa Hiratsuka

Alicia Mousseau, PhD (Oglala Lakota)

Training & Technical Assistant, National Native Children’s Trauma Center, University of Montana

[email protected]

Alicia is the daughter of the late John and Vera Mousseau and the granddaughter of the late James and Lena Mousseau from Porcupine, SD. Her hunka parents are Howard Brown and Karen Spoonhunter-Brown of Arapahoe, Wyoming. Her hunka children are Sarayah & Gia Weston and Marcella Brave Heart. Alicia received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Wyoming in 2012 and returned to her home, the Pine Ridge Reservation, SD to live and work. Alicia takes care of her family’s home in Porcupine: raising chickens, maintaining a garden, hosting and celebrating holidays, and taking care of her three dogs – Lavender, Smalls, and Mister Mousseau. She likes to stay involved in her community by being on the Oglala Sioux Tribe Research Review Board (OSTRRB), participating on the Red Cloud Indian School Board of Directors, atending and hosting community events, and commentating high school basketball games on the local radio station, KILI 90.1FM – The Voice of the Lakota Nation.

Alicia’s current professional work with the National Native Children’s Trauma Center (NNCTC) includes developing a supplement to a school-based cognitive behavioral trauma intervention for American Indian youth, creating a collaborative trauma-informed tribal systems framework, and providing training and technical assistance around trauma and healing in Indian Country. She also currently serves as a member of the OSTRRB. Alicia’s previous work included culturally adapting and implementing a family-based substance use prevention program with Lakota families. Alicia has focused on examining self-regulation, affect, and substance use among American Indian youth, including examining mindfulness techniques to reduce risky behaviors. Overall, Alicia is dedicated to promoting prevention and health equity in American Indian communities through community-based research and capacity building.

Publications

Rasmus, S. M., Whitesell, N., Mousseau, A. C., & Allen, J. R. (2019). An intervention science to advance underrepresented perspectives and Indigenous self-determination in health. Prevention Science. Published online May 31, 2019. doi: 10.1007/s11121-019-01025-1

 

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Monica Tsethlikai, PhD (Zuni Nation)

Associate Professor, Arizona State University

[email protected]

​​Monica is an enrolled member of the Zuni Nation. She is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University in the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics. After completing her undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Notre Dame, she worked for 8 years with minority youth as a residential treatment supervisor and a juvenile probation officer. These experiences led her to seek a doctoral degree in Psychology in order to do more to help children. She obtained a Master’s Degree in Indigenous Nations Studies and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Kansas.

Monica’s research focuses on the role children’s experiences and activities play in shaping their cognitive development and well-being. Currently, she is conducting research among urban American Indian youth to examine whether active engagement in American Indian cultural and spiritual activities buffers the known negative effects of toxic stress on the development of executive functions. She is also exploring relations among stressful life experiences, stress physiology (using hair cortisol), and trauma symptoms in this population.

Publications

Kulis, S. S., Tsethlikai, M., Harthun, M. L., Hibbeler, P. K., Ayers, S. L., & Deschine Parkhurst, N. (2019). Parenting in 2 worlds: Effects of a culturally grounded parenting intervention for urban American Indians on participant cultural engagement. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Advance online publication. 

Tsethlikai, M., Murray, D.W., Meyer, A.M., & Sparrow, J. (2018). Reflections on the Relevance of “Self-Regulation” for Native Communities. OPRE Brief #2018-64. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US. Department of Health and Human Services.