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Colorado School of Public Health

 

Native Children's Research Exchange

NCRE Membership List
ahedo.jpgAhedo, Angelina, MPH
Umpqua - Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
​Evaluator, Native American Health Center

 

Projects
Parenting and Early Childhood Tribal Home Visiting Research on attachment, parental responsiveness, cultural connection, and historical traumas impact on parenting in tribal communities.
Research Interests
 

Traditional childbirth, doula support, and all other MCH topics in Indigenous community.

 

Click here to view CV

 
 
Allen, Jim, PhD
Department of Biobehavioral Health & Population Sciences, University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth Campus
​jallen@unm.edu
​Andrade, Naleen, MD
 
Indigenous Hawaiian/Kanaka Maoli
John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai‘i at Minoa
Around Him, Deana, ScM
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
dwagner@jhsph.edu
Asdigian, Nancy PhD
Colorado School of Public Health
nancy.asdigian@ucdenver.edu​
​Ball, Alison, PhD
University of Oregon
Bang, Megan, PhD
University of Washington
mbang3@uw.edu
Barlow, Allison, MA
Center for American Indian Health, Johns Hopkins
Barnes, Jessica, PhD

University Outreach and Engagement - University-Community Partnerships, Michigan State University

barnes33@msu.edu

Belcourt-Dittloff, Annie, PhD
Blackfeet/Mandan/Hidatsa/Chippewa
BigFoot, Dolores Subia, PhD

Caddo Nation of Oklahoma

Director, Indian Country Child Trauma Center, University of Oklahoma Health and Science Center

dee-bigfoot@ouhsc.edu

Bjork, Cynthia, MLS Ed

Mid-continent Research for Education & Learning Denver, CO
cbjork@mcrel.org
 
Projects
Scaffolding Early Learning, Dynamic Coaching in Tribal Head Starts in the Chippewa Cree Nation, Rocky Boy, MT and Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation, New Town ND. Integrated curriculum project James Bay Cree School Board, Quebec, CA.   
Research Interests
Serving Native education contexts with interity: American Indian/Alaska Native/ Native Hawaiian/First Nations Education, Indigenous Knowledge, language immersion/multilingual programs, supportive environments, curricula, pedagogy, socioemotional dimensions, etc.
 
Blue Bird Jernigan, Valarie DrPh, MPH
 
Emde.jpgEmde, Robert, MD
Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus, University of Colorado Denver, Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health
evanscampbell.jpgEvans-Campbell, Tessa, PhD
Snohomish
University of Washington School of Social Work
Projects
Principal Investigator, Caring for our Generations NIDA (1R01DA029000-01)
Research Interests
Indigenous family wellness and Indian child welfare
 
 
Kimberly Fabian, BA
Student Researcher, Yale University
Projects
Evaluating foster parents' vs group care workers' levels of commitment; the relationship between DNA methylation and the development of PTSD among foster children; the impact of South Dakota's foster care licensing and judicial procedures on Native families.
Research Interests
Psychology, neurobiology, and public policy of the foster care system; trauma-focused therapy and attachment-based interventions; tribal child welfare systems.
 
 
Faircloth, Susan, PhD
Coharie
College of Education, Pennsylvania State University Co-Director, "Principals for Student Success"
scf2@psu.edu
Research Interests
Leadership Preparation, Indian Education, Special Education (overrepresentation of  American Indian/Alaska Native children), Tribally Operated Head Start Programs and Services
 
Farrell, Patricia, PhD
Taos Pueblo
University Outreach and Engagement, Michigan State University
Fehringer, Karen, PhD
Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health (CAIANH), Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH), University of Colorado Denver (UCD)
hef-hi-res.jpgFitzgerald, Hiram, PhD                          
Associate Provost and University Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University
fitzger9@msu.edu
Research Interests
I have five broad areas of scholarship that involve collaborations with many faculty, graduate students, and community colleagues, both within MSU and nationally. Each of these interests is anchored in developmental systems theory and biopsychosocial approaches to the organization of behavior. These are: 1) the etiology of alcoholism and co-occurring forms of psychopathology, a collaborative prospective longitudinal study with the University of Michigan Addiction Research Center, now in its 26th year. 2) the effectiveness of community prevention programs for enhancing developmental outcomes during the first six years of life 3) the role of fathers in early child development, 4) human uses of information technology, 5) the effectiveness of university-community partnerships for elaborating and sustaining social and economic community change. 
 
Fleming, Candace, PhD
Kickapoo/Oneida/Cherokee
Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health (CAIANH), Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH), University of Colorado Denver (UCD)
Fryberg, Stephanie, PhD 
Tulalip
Department of Psychology, University of Arizona
fryberg@u.arizona.edu
Galliher, Renee, PhD              
Department of Psychology, Utah State University
Research Interests
Renee Galliher has been a faculty member of the combined doctoral program in clinical, counseling, and school psychology at Utah State University since 2001. Her research is broadly aimed at understanding psychosocial development during adolescence. Within that broad context, her research has predominantly focused on individual characteristics and relationship processes associated with optimal development and functioning in adolescent relationships. Her current and future research emphasizes the integration of sexual identity development, ethnic identity development, and relationship experiences in sexual minority and ethnic minority adolescents. Understanding the roles of culture and context in the developmental process serves as the foundation for much of her work. In particular, examining rural communities as an important developmental context is a principal area of interest.
Gerde, Hope, PhD
Department of Human Development & Family Studies, Michigan State University
Research Interests
Dr. Gerde’s program of research focuses on identifying how young children develop language and literacy skills, particularly writing and the design of effective professional development strategies for supporting teachers’ use of practices, which enhance children’s language and cognitive development. She has recently developed and evaluated an online coaching protocol to support teachers’ development of high quality teaching practice via a remote service delivery system. The purpose of this work is to provide access to high quality professional development and education to marginalized populations including Tribal Head Start teachers living in rural, isolated areas. She is a Co-PI on an NSF-funded DR K-12 project evaluating the effects of this distance learning process for coaching Head Start teachers to implement the Head Start on Science curriculum into the classroom on teachers’ practices and child outcomes. She is a member of the Wiba Anung partnership.
 
D
D
epartment of Psychology, Brandon University
Gonzalez, John, PhD
White Earth Ojibwe Nation
Bemidji State University
 

MGonzalez.jpgGonzalez, Miigis, MPh, PhD(c
)
L
ac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe
University of Minnesota, Duluth & Research for Indigenous Community Health (RICH) Institute 
 
Projects

Food as Medicine: exploring community members' views, values, benefits, and barriers to traditional foods and traditional food practices, a photovoice project; Perceptions of pharmacists: comparing pharmacy doctorate students and American Indian community's perceptions of the role of pharmacists to inform pharmacist understanding of patient population; Increasing knowledge, beliefs, and intentions towards careers in public health in American Indian students: An education-based intervention

Research Interests

Food as Medicine, food-based interventions, food as a cultural component, traditional food practices, physical activity interventions, culture-based interventions. Decreasing problems in mental health, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.


 

 
Goodkind, Jessic
a
Dep
artment of Pediatrics, Division of Prevention & Population Sciences, University of New Mexico
 
Grayson, Liane, PhD
Children and Family Services, MN Department of Human Services
 
Projects
Child welfare disparities, home-visiting 
 
Research Interests
Parent-child interaction, communication development, infant mental health, early intervention 
 
Gutman, Pamela,
MA
Cherokee Nation
 
Projects

MIECHV Grant: a quasi-experimental design with a naturally occurring comparison group designed to estimate the impacts and relevance of the SafeCare Augmented curriculum for our target population’s parenting (and risk for maltreatment) and rates of childhood abuse and neglect. Post implementation of the SafeCare Augmented home visiting program will show improvement (enacting knowledge learned) in parent-child interaction—as measured by PPI and CAPI—and child maltreatment will show reduction as measured in administrative data. Overall improved rural at-risk child and family services within the Cherokee Nation and improved services coordination within the Cherokee Nation. USDA Grant: In the process of being designed and approved. A qualitative process that will examine current food aid systems; and develop then test a more effective approach. Cherokee Nation has proposed at this time to develop a home agriculture system intervention, teaching families (in conjunction with OU) how to grow, preserve and cook produce at home. The Nation's neediest communities consist mainly of rural-remote families that could benefit from education on at home methods for food supplementing. The Cherokee Nation will also construct community gardens at child care facilities and an aquaponics system a the Nation's headquarters, to ensure sustainability.

Research Interests
Current research interests are: 1) Behavioral interventions working in social services systems. 2) Memory studies, especially those focusing on memory loss or false memory. (I have particular experience with Alzheimer's)
 
 
Hanson, Stacie, MSW
Butler Instittue for Families, University of Denver
 
Projects
Evaluation and capacity building in tribal child welfare programs.
Research Interests
Organizational culture and climate Tribal child welfare evaluation and improvement. Cultural practice models for tribal social services and community programs.
 
Hill, Kyle, PhD
University of Minnesota 
 
Projects
I am currently involved in an international collaboration using a critical multi-level synthesis of the presence of Indigenous methodologies within mental health literature using PsycInfo as the database. This involves cataloging studies done since the year 2000, collecting and analyzing data on whether studies have involved Indigenous Authors, as well as the methods behind such approaches, and involving where the data was collected. I am also involved in secondary data analysis of cancer and smoking disparities in AI youth.
Research Interests
I am interested in the intersection of AI mental health and public health in AI communities, as they relate to continued neo-colonial, dominant systems. I also enjoy looking at resilience and protective factors that promote well-being at the individual level and community levels, specifically how cultural engagement addresses these disparities.
 
miniVH.JPG
Hiratsuka, Vanessa, MPH
Navajo and Winnemem Win
tu
So
uthcentral Foundation
 
Research Interests
Early childhood oral health; screening, chronic disease detection and treatment within the patient-centered medical home; and community based participatory research practices and policy development within Alaska Native and American Indian tribal communities
 
Hishinuma, Earl, PhD
Department of Psychiatry, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Projects
Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center 
 

Ivanich, Jerreed, BS
, MS
​Metlakatla Indian Community  
University of Nebraska-Lincoln REACH-lab
 
Projects
Bii-Zin-Da-De-Dah (BZDDD) (Listening to One Another)-Graduate Research Assistant This project is a multi-reservation randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a popular, widely disseminated, substance abuse prevention program targeted at preadolescents aged 8-10 years, their parents/caretakers, and extended family adults who have daily influence over the target child’s behaviors. The Bii-Zin-Da-De-Dah (BZDDD) (Listening to One Another) program was the first American Indian (AI) adaptation of the Iowa Strengthening Families Program. Now in its third generation, BZDDD has been adapted for Dakota, Lakota, Pueblo, and Navajo cultures and is currently the center piece of a Canadian national Indigenous mental health promotion funded by Public Health Agency of Canada. Although BZDDD has been extremely popular at the grassroots level and has been adapted to numerous cultures there has never been a large-scale empirical evaluation of the program’s efficacy for reducing adolescent alcohol and drug use. Our overall goal is to implement a RCT of a fourth-generation BZDDD prevention program that can be replicated cross-culturally by other North American Indigenous cultures to decrease substance use among early adolescents and improve mental health outcomes.
 
Research Interests
Health disparities among American Indian and Alaskan Native populations is my primary area of interest. Quantitative Methods - Longitudinal SEM and Social Network Analysis are my two primary areas of interest.
Kaufman, Carol, PhD
Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health (CAIANH), Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH), University of Colorado Denver (UCD)
 
 
Kavanagh, Kate, PhD
Child and Family Center, University of Oregon
 
Kessel, Frank, PhD
 University of New Mexico
 
Kipp, Billie Jo, PhD
Blackfeet Center for Native American Health, School of Medicine, University of New Mexico
 
​Kulis, Stephen, PhD
 Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center, Arizona State University 
 
Projects
“Urban American Indian Youth Substance Use: Ecodevelopmental Influences” (NIMHD P20MD002316), a secondary data analysis of parent-child relationships as mediators and moderators of peer, school and neighborhood effects on urban Native adolescents use of substances. Parenting in 2 Worlds: “Using CBPR to Adapt a Culturally-grounded Prevention Curriculum for Urban American Indian Parents” (NIMHD R01MD006110), a cultural program adaptation targeting urban Native families to prevent adolescent substance use and risky sexual behavior. Living in 2 Worlds: “Culturally-Specific Substance Abuse Prevention for Urban American Indian Youth” (NIMHD P20MD002316), a cultural program adaptation of the keepin' it REAL model program for middle schools. 
Research Interests
Cultural processes in health disparities, such as the role of gender and ethnic identity in youth drug use and prevention interventions; cultural adaptation of prevention programs for urban American Indian youth and their parents; contextual neighborhood and school level influences on youth substance use.gender and racial inequities in professional careers, and the organizational sources of ethnic and gender discrimination. He is currently leading two parallel NIMHD-funded studies with the urban American Indian communities of Arizona. Each is a cultural adaptation of existing prevention programs--one for adolescents and another for parents--to create culturally responsive interventions that strengthen the capacities of native families in urban areas to protect their children from substance use and other risky behaviors.
 
 
KyungSook, Lee, PhD

UOE, Michigan State University

leekyun3@msu.edu​

LaFromboise, Teresa, PhD
Miami, School of Education, Stanford University
 
Projects
Evaluation of the middle school version of the American Indian Life Skills intervention. 
 
Research Interests
I apply and advance social cognitive, problem behavior and stress-vulnerability theories through the conduct of research in the following areas: (1) cultural competence and empirically supported interventions; (2) resilience and suicide prevention; and (3) ethnic identity and psychological well-being. All of these areas of inquiry emphasize social transactions and protocol more than personal dispositions. 
 
​Le_picture Zen Garden2.jpgLe, Thao, PhD, MPH
thaole3@hawaii.edu 
Projects
Mindfulness-based interventions for Native American & Native Hawaiian youth

Research Interests
Mindfulness-based interventions & cultural adaptations
Londhe, Rucha, PhD
 
Brazelton Touchpoints Center, Boston Children's Hospital 

Projects
Evaluator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) funded LAUNCH - Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children’s Health - project for 1. Bodewadmi Tribal Consortium, Michigan and 2. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, North Dakota.
 
Maillet-Davis, Kiana, MPA
Lone Pine Paiute Shoshone Tribe
Project Assistant
San Diego Miramar College Child Development Department

Projects
Currently in an MSW Program at CSU San Marcos.  Working in the Miramar College Child Development Department helping streamline processes for both college and preschool classrooms.
Research Interests
I have a variety of interests including Child Development, Public Policy such as ICWA, Education, and Mental Health.
 
Farha Marfani, MSPH
Native American Health Center, Oakland, CA
 
Projects
Currently the program evaluator for the Strong Families Home Visiting Program (a Tribal MIECHV grantee), designed to strengthen AI/AN families and young children ages 0-3 by delivering culturally-enhanced home visiting services to pregnant and postpartum women, expectant fathers, grandparents, and other caregivers of self-identified AI/AN children ages 0-3 living in Alameda County.
 
Research Interests
Maternal and child health, socio-cultural influences on health and wellness, health communication, research methodologies, program evaluation, data visualization
 
 
Carol.jpgMarkstrom, Carol, PhD                      
    
 
Projects
Currently I'm writing a couple of different book chapters on the topic of adolescent rites of passage and would like to write another, more comprehensive book on this topic. I’m also working on the resubmission of a grant proposal to examine Native-based spirituality and religiosity as protective mechanisms in alcohol use of American Indian adolescents.
Research Interests
American Indian adolescents; identity formation within social and cultural contexts; indigenous stage theories; rites of passage; the roles of rituals as mechanisms of positive youth development. 
​McCarthy, Kayne
Undergraduate Researcher
Puni Ke Ola Pilot Proje
ct
Honolulu, HI

Projects
The purpose of the Puni Ke Ola Pilot Project is to develop a Native Hawaiian Model of Substance Use Prevention for Native Hawaiian youth. Although western drug prevention programs have been shown to be successful within communities and are commonly used throughout the United States and internationally, Hawai`i researchers and community leaders believe that a more culturally relevant curriculum for drug prevention must be developed for Native Hawaiian youth. This belief is derived from various Hawai`i-based studies which show that Native Hawaiian youth begin to use drugs earlier, report more frequent offers, and report higher use rates, as compared to non-Native Hawaiian youth (Lai & Saka, 2005; Okamoto, Helm, Giroux, Edwards, & Kulis, 2010; Ramisetty-Mikler, Caetano, Goebert, & Nishimura, 2004; Wong, Klingle, & Price, 2004). As noted by the project’s leaders, Puni Ke Ola was initiated from a desire to use a youth drug prevention program that is grounded in Hawaiian epistemology (Helm, Lee, Hanakahi, et al, 2013). However, the team was unable to identify a nationally recognized evidence-based practice in drug prevention that had been grounded in Hawaiian epistemology (Edwards et al, 2010; Rehuher et al 2008). As a result, community residents teamed with university researchers in an effort to develop their own intervention model .
Research Interests
Kayne McCarthy is a 2009 graduate of Punahou School and is currently an Undergraduate Senior majoring in English B.A. and Biological Science B.A. at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Upon completion of his bachelor degrees, he intends to pursue a Master’s of Public Health degree at the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine. His desire to pursue further education in the discipline of Public Health has developed through his educational and occupational research opportunities. Currently, Kayne is employed by the Department of Public Health Studies at University of Hawaii at Manoa as a Student Assistant and is also a Volunteer Intern at Hawaii’s Department of Health (DOH). In doing so, Kayne has established personal connections to the public health field by assisting many of Hawaii’s public health professionals with various projects, such as: worksite wellness initiatives, Hawaii Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System fact sheet development for Public High Schools, and social media networking for Hawaii DOH’s Start Living Hawaii Healthy Program. As a Volunteer Undergraduate Researcher for the Puni Ke Ola Project, Kayne has furthered his knowledge concerning community health through the study of rural health and Native Hawaiian and Indigenous health (McCarthy, 2013). Working as a community participatory researcher in a rural Native Hawaiian community has been a truly rewarding experience, as he has been able to address and support the prevention of substance abuse. Through his work, he hopes that the development of the Puni Ke Ola Intervention will reflect the social-ecological model, which promotes societal change by addressing substance abuse prevention on individual, family, and community levels.
kimberly.jpgMiller, Kimberly, PhD                        
Cherokee
Colorado State University
Kimberly.Miller@colostate.edu
Projects
Drug use among young Indians: Epidemiology and Prediction. Health Care Literacy for Head Start Families. PROJECT HOME: Healthcare Options Made Easy 
Research Interests
Strength based psychology and resiliency, culturally sensitive measurement development, positive youth development, psychological well-being, and the epidemiology and treatment of substance use and eating disorders in ethnic minorities.  
Mitchell, Christina, PhD
Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health (CAIANH), Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH), University of Colorado Denver (UCD)
 
Research Interests
Adolescent development, problem and positive behaviors among American Indian youth, longitudinal data analysis 
 
Montano, Muskadee, MSW
Red
Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe
University of Minnesota Duluth
 
Mousseau, Alici
a, MS
Oglala Lakota
University of Colorado Denver
 
Projects
Examining a number of social-cognitive concept including 1) Value Priorities 2) Self-Theories of Intelligence 3) Goals and 4) Self-Efficacy to Depressive Symptoms in American Indian Youth. 
 
Research Interests
American Indian Youth Risk and Resiliency 
 
Crystal Natvig, BS
Professional Research Assistant, Univeristy of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
 
Neha2013.jpg
Neha, Tia PhD Candidate
Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Whānau A Apanui, Ngāti P
orou 
o
m
 
 
 
Projects
PhD Research: The role of Autobiographical Memory on New Zealand Maori Children's School Readiness. International Research: a Cross-Cultural Study on the Emotional Aspects of Te Reo Māori, with other Indigenous languages
 
Research Interests
Indigenous Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Māori Language Revival, Māori Education, Māori Mental Health and Mixed Methods Design
Newman, Denise L., PhD
Ojibwe/Metis
Clinical and Developmental Psychologist; Clinical Associate Professor 
 
Projects
Theoretical writings on psychoanalysis and racial identity development; how culture informs personality, and on the process of personality change in psychotherapy. Manuscript: Crossing the Language Barrier: On Poetry, Emotion and the Developing Adolescent Mind
 
Research Interests
Native youth identity development and ego development. Traumatic life events and developmental psychopathology. Personality development and cultural context.
 
Nixon, Dawn, PsyD
Red Cliff Project LAUNCH (Wisconsin)
Novins, Douglas, MD
Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health (CAIANH), Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH), University of Colorado Denver (UCD)
Oxford, Monica, PhD MSW
University of Washington
 
Projects
Evaluating the effectiveness of an evidence-based home visiting program in Native communities. Promoting First Relationships (PFR) is a relationship based and strengths based 10-week home visiting program aimed at supporting the parent-child relationship. Our team has two projects aimed at assessing the acceptability and effectiveness of PFR in Native communities. Tribal social service providers are trained to conduct the home visiting program in their community.
 
Research Interests
Parent-child relationships, using strength based service models to support families. Intervention and prevention science. Working with communities to implement training and service evaluation programs.
 
 
Pence, Alan, PhD
School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria
Price, Derek, PhD
Wheaton College)
 
Redbird-Post, Melody
Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma
Child Care Director, Kiowa Tribe Child Care Program
 
 
 
Projects
Qualitative study on impact of Kiowa language and Kiowa culture immersion in a tribally-operated, state-licensed child care facility.
  
Research Interests
Early childhood social-emotional development especially in tribal Head Start and tribal child care programs; Mentor teaching best practices with emphasis on culture and language integration; Home visiting effectiveness for Native populations; Tribal child care administrative data analysis; Effective implementation of tribal language and culture in high quality early childhood settings.
 
Click here to view CV
Erica Roberts, MHS
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina
Doctoral Candidate, University of Maryland
AEA Graduate Education Diversity Team, NIH-National Cancer Institute
 
Projects
Currently completing my dissertation research focusing on exploring current and ideal ways of evaluating physical activity programs in Native communities with the goal of identifying how evaluation practices and requirements can be improved to meet the needs of both the community and the funding agency.
  
Research Interests
Interested in improving the capacity for Native communities to conduct evaluation of their public health (specifically physical activity) programs in ways that are meaningful to them. Also interested in identifying how physical activity can be used to strengthen Native youths' health beyond obesity and diabetes.
 
 
 
Romero-Little, Eunice, PhD
Cochiti Pueblo
Associate Professor, School of Transformation/American Indian Studies,Arizona State University
edu 
Project
s
Becoming Jemez: The Early Childhood Experiences of Jemez Children Photovoice Project Project Mashchamtam Project - A Native American Early Childhood Education Teacher Training Project.
Research Interests
Child language socialization, early childhood of Indigenous children, Indigenous language maintenance and revitalisation, language acquisition, alternative educational assessment, bi- and multi-lingual education.
Rosenkoetter, Sharon, PhD
Oregon State Unive
rsity
 
Sam, Michele, MSW, HBSW, BA-Indigenous Learning and English
Ktunaxa​
Researcher (part time) PhD - Interdisciplinary Studies, Human Early Learning Partnership-University of British Columbia 
michele.sam@ubc.ca​
Projects
Utilizing Early Development Instrument data collected over 10 years, and contextualizing specific to Ktunaxa Nation traditional land use territories. Indigenous Methodologies for restoration of peoplehood in the early years Conceptualizing Aboriginal SocioEconomic Index. 
Research Interests
Indigeno
us Methodologies and influence of Indigenous cosmologies and ontologies as context for mixed methods, cross cultural research restoration of Indigenous Peoples knowledge relationships Appreciating Indigenous peoples experiences of early years that challenge "early childhood Development frameworks" 2nd and 3rd generation experiences of FASD as neurobiological complex disorders and misdiagnoses Indigenous sovereignty and cognitive justice for life long learning, health and wellbeing.
 

Michelle Sarche, PhD
Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health (CAIANH), Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH), University of Colorado Denver (UCD)
Scott, Walter
wscott@uwyo.edu
Shaw, Jennifer, PhD Candidate
Projects
Role of subsistence culture in perceived well-being and aspirations of Alaska Native youth (dissertation); community-level protective factors for suicide prevention in three Alaska Native communities. 
Research Interests
Social and cultural dimensions of youth health and well-being; positive youth development; youth suicide prevention; participatory research; childhood studies  
Siemon, Mark, RN, MPH, MSN, PhDc
University of New Mexico College of Nursing
msiemon@salud.unm.edu​ 
Projects
Board member with New Mexico Alliance for School-Based Health Care working to increase comprehensive school-based health programs in Native American communities in New Mexico. 
Research Interests
Policies and programs related to school health services for AI/AN children and youth. Primary prevention of childhood obesity among AI/AN children.​ 
 
​Silburn, Sven, BSc (Psychology), BSc (Hons), MSc (Clinical Psychology)
Director, Centre for Child Developtment and Education; Darwin, Australia
sven.silburn@menzies.edu.au​
Projects
Early developmental pathways linking health, disability, education, welfare and justice, 2010-2015; NHMRC 572742 Development and evaluation of a program for Aboriginal parents to build strong families and give children a healthy start, 2005-2011: NHMRC 323242 Transforming Indigenous Education Research and Evaluation Partnership (Menzies & NT DET) 
Research Interests
My current research is focused on developing evidence-based policy and practice in child and youth health, family and parenting interventions, education and child protection services in the Northern Territory. My background is in the implementation, analysis and reporting of a number of large-scale epidemiological studies including the WA Child health Survey, the WA Aboriginal Child Health Survey and the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC). 
​Soto, Claradina, MPH
University of Southern California
toya@usc.edu​
Projects
Examining psychosocial cultural risk and protective factors to smoking among American Indian youth in urban and rural areas of California.  
Research Interests
Designing culturally appropriate and effective interventions for the prevention of recreational smoking among American Indian populations, while preserving traditional tobacco use for ceremonial purposes 
paul.jpgSpicer, Paul, PhD
Center for American Indian Lifecourse Studies; University of Oklahoma
paul.spicer@ou.edu
Projects
Multiple projects in intervention development in infancy and preschool 
Research Interests
Early childhood development and intervention; Addiction and obesity
Spillane, Nichea, Clinical Psychology, PhD
Maliseet
Br
own University
 
Stephens, Lancer, PhD, MS, BS, AA
Assistant Professor of Research
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
lancer-stephens@ouhsc.edu
Wichita
 
Projects 
Determinism and its effect on Health literacy in regards to diabetes and renal disease in urban and reservation-based American Indians. Pre-Eclampsia biomarkers in Native Women with Dysglycemia Tobacco Sessation in Native comm
unities. 
Research Interests 
Primarily my focus is on future disease prevention through increasing health literacy in Native Youth.
dstolle.jpg Stolle, Darrell, EdD           
University of Montana College of Education & Human Sciences
darrell.stolle@umontana.edu
 
Projects
-AGILE: Assessment Guided Instruction in Learning Environments -Trauma, Native Children and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network
 
Research Interests
Interventions for Child Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Grief in Native American communities Schools as a therapeutic context
 
Tafoya, Greg, MPH
University of New Mexico - School of Medicine 
Center for Participatory Research
 
Projects
RezRIDERS Project & Program; A Tribally-Driven, Extreme Sport youth/adult leadership and development program. Funded by NIDA (1R34DA030680-01A1) and U.S Department of Justice (Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation) mechanisms. -Engage for Equity/Advancing CBPR Toolkit; To improve the science of measurement within community engaged and participatory research to meet the needs of community-academic research partnerships nation-wide (NINR, 1R01NR015241-01A1). -Family Listening Program: Multi-Tribal Implementation and Evaluation; Integrates an evidence-based family-strengthening program, with cultural values and practices for AIAN children and their families (NIDA, 1R01DA037174-01).
LT12081.jpgThomas, Lisa, PhD
Tlingit
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, University of Washington 
Projects
PI, Native Pathways to Sobriety, NIDA (1R01DA029002-01); PI, Native Healing and Wellness Conference NCMHD (2R13MD002247-02); Co-I, Healing of the Canoe NCMHD (5R24MD001764-05) 
Research Interests
Health Research with Native and Tribal Communities using Community Based and Tribally Based Participatory Research approaches
 Thompson, Nicole, PhD
Menomonee/Mohican
College of Education, Mississippi State University
nt65@colled.msstate.edu 
Research Interests
American Indian and Alaska Native Early Childhood Education; American Indian and Alaska Native Teacher Preparation; Professional Development for Teachers of American Indian and Alaska Native Young Children; Middle Level Education; Middle Level Teacher Preparation; Middle Level Preservice Teachers and their Understandings of Diverse Issues; and for both American Indian and Alaska Native Students and Middle Level Students--The Formation of Relationships with their Teachers. 
 
Treharne, Gareth, PhD
Welsh
Department of Psychology, University of Otago
 
Projects
I am currently co-supervising a Master's student's research into the views on hauora (health and well-being) held by children who identify as Māori (native people of Aotearoa/New Zealand). The project involves photo-elicitation interviews.
 
Research Interests
My research interests are in health psychology, health inequalities relating to sexual orientation and ethnicity, the role of causal attributions for health and illness, qualitative research, and researcher reflexivity (awareness of our roles in research).
tsethlikai2.jpgTsethlikai, Monica, PhD  
Zuni Pueblo
Department of Psychology, University of Utah
 
 
Projects
Cognitive mechanisms of self-regulation and memory in children.
Research Interests
Constructive memory processes and social cognition; individual differences; cultural aspects of cognitive development.
Twemlow, Stuart, MD
Maori
Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine
Vraniak, Damian, PhD
Ojibwe/Cree/Assiniboin/Hochunk/Huron
maaingan@centuryt
el.net
s
123Mystery for Teachers; Upper St. Croix River Watershed Environmental (USWE) Charter School Initiative 
Research Interests
Currently I am working with teachers in the local public and tribal schools at the primary and elementary school levels, in terms of "dualizing" classroom teaching methods, using my 123Mystery process and materials. The relevant core constructs in this approach I have termed 'paired-learning', 'paired-cognition', 'dyadic intelligence' and 'entangled cognition', all embedded in a "pairing-into-partnering" process of forming highly efficient small learning groups within classrooms by pairing students and shifting who is paired with whom over time. We have field-tested training materials for teachers and materials for students over the past several years at increasingly earlier grade levels.
Walkup, John, MD                              
Center for American Indian Health, Johns Hopkins
Walls, Melissa, PhD, MA
Couchiching First Nation, Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe
Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Medical School-Duluth
alls@d.umn.edu
Research Interests
Indigenous Health, Mental Health & Translational Community-Based Participatory Research 
Watson, Malcolm, PhD
Phychology Department, Brandeis University
Eve-of-Eve-07-00000.jpgWest, Am
y, PhD
Southern Cheyenne
University of Illinois at Chicago
awest@psych.uic.edu
Projects
1. Psychosocial Treatment for Pediatric Bipolar Disorder, funded by a K23 from NIMH: a randomized clinical trial of a family-based psychosocial intervention for children with bipolar disorder. 2. American Indian Center of Chicago Circles of Care, funded by SAMHSA: an infrastructure development grant to support the development of a community-based, culturally-relevant model system of mental health service delivery for Native youth and families in Chicago 
Research Interests
The prevention and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders in children, culturally-based intervention development, suicide prevention.
Wexler, Lisa, PhD
University of Massachusetts Amherst
lwexler@schoolph.umass.edu
Projects
NSF: Collaborative Research: Investigating Indigenous Circumpolar Pathways into Adulthood Suicide Prevention with Alaska Native Communities in Northwest Alaska
 
Research Interests
Cultural identity and wellbeing/resilience Qualitative research-Community Based Participatory Suicide Prevention in Tribal Communities 
Whitbeck, Leslie                  
untitled.pngWhitesell, Nancy Rumbaugh, PhD
Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health (CAIANH), Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH), University of Colorado Denver (UCD)
nancy.whitesell@ucdenver.edu
Research Interests
Early adolescent substance use prevention, early childhood prevention in the context of tribal home visiting and Head Start/Early Head Start programs, culture and development (especially identity development), effects of stress and trauma on development
 
Whitmore, Corrie, PhD
Health Program Analyst, Southcentral Foundation
cwhitmore@scf.cc​ 
Wimsatt, Maureen, MSW
University of Maryland
wimsattm@umd.edu​ 
Wilhelms 2014.jpgWilhelms, Sarah, MSW

Social Worker

sarahbwilhelms@gmail.com

Projects
Differential diagnosis and cultural considerations in children with complex trauma histories.  Understanding family systems and the role of language, culture, and spirtuality.
 
Research Interests
The role of early head injuries and possible TBI in pre-school and school-aged children.  Considerations for special education and accommodations.  Cultural 
competence for practitioners as an essential function of undertanding mental health.  Resiliency factors in Native American children of military veterans.
Yazzie-Mintz, Tarajean, EdD
American Indian College F
und
g
 
 Zhang, Fengju
Educational Program Specialist, US Dept. of Education/OELA
fengju.zhang@ed.gov
 
Projects
OELA administers the Title III Native American and Alaska Native Children in Schools Program (NAM) that provide funding for tribal schools, public schools that serve Native American children, higher education institutions that train native language teachers or training teachers who work with NAAN children, promote family and community engagement in schools and education of children in their communities, to provide instructional service in English and native languages to improve NAAN English learners education achievement in both English and their native languages and be college and career ready.
Research Interests
Theory and practice in the teaching and learning of NAAN students, parental/family engagement in the education from children of NAAN communities, culturally, linguistically and age appropriate curriculum development for NAAN children in schools, integration of native culture and language into regular education programs; other related to the improvement of educational outcomes for NAAN children.

Colorado School of Public Health

13001 E. 17th Place
Mail Stop B119
Aurora, CO 80045

303.724.4585
colorado.sph@ucdenver.edu

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