Public Health Considerations in Indigenous Communities: Research, Advocacy, and Activism

In a year like none other, Americans' awareness of disturbing racial disparities in access to quality public health services increased exponentially.

Indigenous peoples were some of the hardest hit communities by COVID-19, due to limited access to technology, health professionals, and prescription medication.

In this webinar, Yalies will discuss their work with indigenous communities, and specifically how public health research and activism can create health equity among indigenous populations.

Panelists

Patricia Nez Henderson ’94 MPH, ’00 MD

Dr. Nez Henderson is a citizen of the Navajo Nation, serves as the vice president for the Black Hills Center for American Indian Health, an American Indian nonprofit health organization located in Rapid City, South Dakota. As an Indigenous scientist, Dr. Nez Henderson is one of the leading authorities on commercial tobacco research in American Indian communities. Her work in this field has effectively focused on incorporating Tribal values and customs with Western knowledge.

Emma Rutan ’21+1, ’23 MPH

Rutan is a psychology major and MPH candidate as a part of the Yale School of Public Health’s 5-year BA/BS-MPH program. She is interested in how trauma-informed care, racial justice advocacy, qualitative data reintegration, and the arts can serve as means to achieve health equity. Rutan works with the Black Hills Center for American Indian Health under the mentorship of Dr. Patricia Nez-Henderson. Rutan is one of the first non-male members of the Yale Whiffenpoofs and the coalition committee head of STEM & Health Equity Advocates.

Moderator

Elizabeth Rule ’13

Rule is the director of the AT&T Center for Indigenous Politics and Policy, assistant professor of professional studies, director of the Semester in Washington Politics program, and faculty in residence at the George Washington University. She is an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. Her research has been featured in the Washington Post, Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien, The Atlantic, and NPR. Rule earned her PhD and MA degrees in American Studies from Brown University.