Chelsea Wesner (she/her) is a research instructor in the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health (CAIANH) at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Colorado School of Public Health, as well as a doctoral student in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health. She has worked with Indigenous communities for more than 15 years across public health practice and research in her current role and others at the University of South Dakota, University of Oklahoma, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Tribal, Regional, and Territorial Support Team and Native Diabetes Wellness Program. Currently, she works with the Tribal Early Childhood Research Center at CAIANH on pilot research to conceptualize, measure, and understand early relational wellbeing and family economic wellbeing among Indigenous families and children and the relationship of these constructs to positive early child development. Chelsea has lived with her family in South Dakota on Lakota/Dakota lands for the last decade. Her roots and extended family are in Oklahoma, where she is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation.
Areas of Expertise
- American Indian and Alaska Native/Indigenous Health
- Early Relational Wellbeing
- Family Economic Wellbeing
- Early Child Development
Education, Licensure & Certifications
- Public Health Training Certificate in American Indian Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2020
- MSW, Administrative and Community Practice, University of Oklahoma, 2010
- MPH, Health Promotion Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 2010
- BA, Sociology and American Indian Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2006
Resumes/CV:
Awards
- Native Research Ambassadors Program, Center for American Indian Community Health, University of Kansas Medical Center, 2019
- Early Career Teaching Excellence Award, University of South Dakota School of Health Sciences, 2019
Courses
- CBHS 6648 Ethical Considerations in American Indian and Alaska Native Health
Research
- Administration for Children & Families, Tribal Early Childhood Research Center. September 2020 - August 2025. Role: Supporting, Research Instructor.
- CDC, Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement: Native Diabetes Wellness Program, Division of Diabetes Translation. 2013-2021. Role: PI.
- CDC, Overdose Data to Action (OD2A), South Dakota Department of Health. September 2019-August 2022. Role: PI, Statewide Evaluation.
- CDC, Emergency Response: Public Health Crisis Response Cooperative Agreement, South Dakota Department of Health. 2018-2019. Role: PI, Statewide Vulnerability Assessment.
- CDC, Prescription Drug Overdose: Data-Driven Prevention Initiative Cooperative Agreement, South Dakota Department of Health. 2017-2019. Role: PI, Statewide Evaluation.
Publications and Presentations
- Berg-Poppe, P., Anis, M., Cerny, S., Merrigan, M., LaPlante, K. & Wesner, C. (2021). Changes in knowledge, beliefs, self-efficacy, and affective commitment to change following trauma- informed care education for pediatric service providers. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.
- Danzi, B., Strobel, S., Puumala, S. Kenyon, D., Curry O’Connell, M., & Wesner, C. (2021). COVID-19 stressors, concerns, and mental health of adults and youth during the early phase of the pandemic in South Dakota. Journal of Rural Mental Health.
- Boland, S., Ivanich, J., Wesner, C., Tuitt, N., Zacher, T., Asdigian, N., & Whitesell, N. (2021). Crisis-Resilient and Anti-Racist Approaches to Community Based Participatory Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond. Health Education and Behavior, 10901981211054791.
- Boland, S., Homdayjanakul, K., Reed, R., Wesner, C., Basha, E., Kaufman, C., Jackson, L., & James, K. (2021). Addressing the cycle of inaction: A DrPH student perspective on the decolonization of public health. Harvard Public Health Review, 35.
- Wesner, C. A., Zhang, W., Melstad, S., Ruen, E., Deffenbaugh, C., Gu, W., & Clayton, J. L. (2020). Assessing County-Level Vulnerability for Opioid Overdose and Rapid Spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Hepatitis C Infection in South Dakota. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 222(Supplement_5), S312-S321.
- Wesner, C. & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2018). Part V—Traditional Foods in Native America: A Compendium of Stories from the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Movement in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities. Atlanta, GA: Native Diabetes Wellness Program, CDC.
