Planning Committee Members

Alexandra (Alex) Adams, MD, PhD
Professor and Director, Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity (CAIRHE)
Montana State University, Bozeman, MT

Kelli Wilson Begay, MS, MBA, RDN (Kickapoo, Seminole, Mvskoke Creek)
Maven Collective Consulting/Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition, Albuquerque, NM

Jada Brooks, PhD, MSPH, RN (Lumbee)
Associate Professor
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, Chapel Hill, NC

Kaylee Clyma, MPH (Cherokee)
Project Coordinator, Center for Indigenous Health Research and Policy
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, OK

LaVerne Xilegg Demientieff, PhD, LMSW (Dené/Athabascan)
Professor, Department Chair
Department of Social Work
University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK

Elsie M. DuBray (Oóhenuŋpa Lakxóta, Nueta, Hidatsa, Cheyenne River Lakxóta Nation)
Stanford University, Class of 2023, BS Candidate, Human Biology
Blackfoot, SD

Marie Kainoa Fialkaowski Revilla, PhD, RDN (Native Hawaiian)
Associate Professor, Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences
University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Mānoa, HI

Courtney Fischer-Claussen, MPH (Cheyenne River Lakota)
Indigenous Health PhD Candidate, University of North Dakota
Black Hills, SD

Linda Bane Frizzell, PhD (Eastern Cherokee, Lakota)
Director, American Indian Health and Wellness Studies, School of Public Health
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Stacy Hammer, MPH, RD, LDN (Bdewakantunwan Dakota)
National Nutrition Consultant
Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention Office of Clinical & Preventive Services
Indian Health Service

Teresa Jackson, MS, RDN, LD (Fort Mojave, Seminole, Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, Yuma)
Tribal Partnerships and Outcomes Partner
Oklahoma Tribal Engagement Partners, LLC, Stillwater, OK

Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan, DrPH (Choctaw) (co-chair)
Professor of Medicine and Rural Health
Director, Center for Indigenous Health Research and Policy
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, Tulsa, OK

Mindy S Kurzer, PhD (chair)
Professor and Director
Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute
University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN

Della Kurzer-Zlotnick
Conference Planner
Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute
University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN

Melissa E. Lewis, PhD (Cherokee)
Associate Professor
Department of Family & Community Med
University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, MO

Denisa Livingston, MPH (Diné Nation)
Indigenous Public Health Consultant
Community Health Advocate and Food & Health Justice Organizer 
Diné Community Advocacy Alliance, Fruitland, NM

Tara Maudrie, MSPH (Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Snapping Turtle Clan)
PhD Student, Social and Behavioral Interventions
Center for Indigenous Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Sault Ste Marie, MI

Alika Maunakea, PhD (Native Hawaiian)
Professor
Department of Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology, John A. Burns School of Medicine
University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Mānoa, HI

Cassandra J. Nguyen, PhD
Cooperative Extension Assistant Specialist, Department of Nutrition
University of California at Davis, Davis, CA

Valerie Nuvayestewa (Hopi/Tewa)
Project Coordinator, Tutskwat Oqawtoynani
Tewa Village, First Mesa, AZ

Stephany Paige Parker, PhD
Program Planning and Evaluation Partner
Oklahoma Tribal Engagement Partners, LLC, Stillwater, Oklahoma

Will Seeley
Tribal Enterprise Specialist, Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative
University of Arkansas School of Law
Helena, MT

Sarah Stotz, PhD, RDN
Research Assistant Professor
Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, School of Public Health
University of Colorado, Aurora, CO

Melissa L. Walls, PhD (Bois Forte and Couchiching First Nations Anishinaabe)
Associate Professor, Department of International Health, and Co-Director, Johns Hopkins
Center for Indigenous Health, Duluth, MN