Myra E. Parker, JD, MPH, PhD (Mandan and Hidatsa), CEO, Seven Directions and Assistant Professor, University of Washington
Aleena M. Kawe, MPH (Hiaki), President & CEO, Red Star International, Inc.
Seven Directions wishes to acknowledge the following individuals who served on the national advisory board that provided leadership and guidance throughout its development:
Tom Anderson, MPH (Cherokee) (Phases I &II)
Former Area Manager, Tribal Epidemiology Center
Oklahoma City Area Inter Tribal Health Board
Jay Butler, MD (Phase I)
Former Senior Director for Community Health Services
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
Delia Carlyle (Ak-Chin Indian Community) (Phase II)
Vice-Chairman
Ak-Chin Indian Community
Joseph Finkbonner, RPh, MHA (Lummi) (Phases I &II)
Executive Director
Bridget Canniff (designee)
Project Director
Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board
Kristin Hill, BSN, MSHSA (Phases I &II)
Former Director, Great Lakes Inter Tribal Epidemiology Center
Great Lakes Inter Tribal Council
Jackie Kaslow (Miwok, Maidu) (Phases I &II)
Public health doctoral student, Harvard University
Former Director, Family and Community Health Services
California Rural Indian Health Board
Byron Larson, MHA (Northern Cheyenne) (Phase II)
Former Associate Director
Urban Indian Health Institute/Seattle Indian Health Board
Don Warne, MD, MPH (Oglala Lakota) (Phase II)
Chair, Department of Public Health
North Dakota State University
Seven Directions would all like to acknowledge two national partners, the National Indian Health Board and the National Network for Public Health Institutes (NNPHI). Both organizations participated alongside the advisory board, and provided leadership and guidance throughout the project. NNPHI provided technical assistance and guidance since the beginning of the project and at critical points in Seven Directions’ development.
We are grateful to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF). Without the support from grants from the RWJF, the dream of exploring the feasibility of an Indigenous focused public health institute (PHI), never would have been realized. A grant from the WKKF made it possible to take what we learned, and develop Seven Directions, A Center for Indigenous Public Health, into a sustainable Indigenous PHI.