Meet Our Team

She also serves as Co-Director of the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute’s Tribal Protocols and Ethics Division. She has worked for fourteen years on tribal public health program implementation, coordination, and research with tribal communities in Arizona, Idaho, and Washington.  Prior to her work in research, she worked for five years in the policy arena within Arizona state government, in tribal governments, and with tribal working groups at the state and national level. Her research experience in public health involves Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and disparities research. 

Dr. Parker serves as Co-Investigator on an ETHICS project to culturally adapt a human subjects curriculum for tribal communities; a national epidemiology research study grounded in CBPR involving twenty-five tribal colleges and universities to establish alcohol, tobacco, and drug use rates within their respective communities through a mixed methods approach; and, an NIAAA R01 research study investigating the effectiveness of a culturally-adapted version of the BASICS intervention and a policy intervention. 

As an enrolled member of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, Myra is aware of the historical health practices and misconduct perpetuated on tribes in the United States. Her background in law and policy has informed a broader understanding of the principles of ethics as well as honed her ability to identify methods to address the disparities in research control and access through the use of formalized agreements.

Christina E. Oré joins our team from the Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s Health Services Division where she worked on various tribal health systems strengthening initiatives: creative/strength-based wellness programs, data capacity and infrastructure, tribal research ethics and review, and performance management/ quality improvement. In 2018, she received her DrPH in public health policy and management from the University of Arizona, Zuckerman College of Public Health. She initiated an interdisciplinary minor with the Indigenous Peoples' Law and Policy program, UA Rogers College of Law, a first between the two colleges. Christina is founding member of the MEZCOPH American Indian Indigenous Health Alliance, founding board member of Red Star International, Inc., and member of the US Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network and Research Data Alliance. Christina is an Indigenous descendant from Ayacucho-Huancavelica (Peru) and Irish (Arizona). Her connection to this work is through commitments made to family, community, and Yoemem in Sonora and Arizona.

She lives in Tucson, Arizona with her family: Joseph, Munai and Tenzin. She loves to walk in the desert, dip into ephemeral water holes, hike above timberline, dive into ocean waves, make pachamancas, and spend time with her family who are in Mexico, Peru, and the U.S.

Maya's scholarship intersects sociology, public health and geography in addressing social inequities with an intention of fostering knowledge democracy and holistic approaches to wellbeing. For almost a decade, she has collaborated on several NIH-, CDC- and tribally-funded research, evaluation and technical assistance projects with multi-disciplinary cross-institutional teams investigating resiliency, cultural strength and social determinants of behavioral health and non-communicable disease disparities in the American Indian and Alaska Native, immigrant and refugee communities in the US. 

Recently, Maya's research work has expanded into global arena looking at water insecurity and environmental health in Nepal. In between receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition from Australia, and Master (with Fulbright scholarship) and Ph.D in Sociology from the UW, she worked with a local NGO and with UNICEF in Nepal advancing community nutrition and health.  

Mays loves being outside hiking and backpacking on land. She is working on my swimming skills to be able to explore the myriads of bodies of water in the Puget Sound and beyond.

Most recently, she served her tribe as the Associate/Deputy Director of the Health Services Division (2013) before leaving her position in January 2020 to work with Seven Directions. In her earlier position as the Pascua Yaqui Circles of Care Program Director (2001), she helped develop a System of Care model for Yaqui Children and their Families in the behavioral health system with the Yoeme communities. She has been a part of the tribe’s Systems of Care initiatives awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) throughout the years. Raquel’s career experiences have been predominantly in the area of public health, health and wellness promotion. She enjoys providing technical assistance as tribe evaluate their own systems and develop their organization.

Raquel holds a Bachelors in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentration in organizational studies (BIS) and a Masters in Healthcare Innovation (MHI) from the Arizona State University. Her areas of research focused on leadership, community/team engagement and system thinking.

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Danielle is a mixed-race woman who had lived in eight states before entering high school. As such, her personal and professional interests have centered on the impact of community, belonging and identity on mental health. Danielle received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Washington. As a graduate student she interned for the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute and received a fellowship from the Indigenous Substance Abuse, Medicines and Addictions Research Training Program to complete her dissertation in conjunction with the Tribal College/University BeWell Study. Danielle completed her clinical psychology internship and post-doctoral fellowship as the Rural Health/Underserved Populations resident at the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System. At VA PIHCS, Danielle focused on in-person outreach and remote telehealth services to Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander veterans located in American Samoa, Guam, Saipan and the neighboring Hawaiian Islands.

Danielle is grateful to live in Hawaii and loves freediving and learning the environmentally sustainable practice of spearfishing.

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Katie M Hess (Native Hawaiian), MPH has spent the past nine years building and managing family support programs emphasizing early childhood and parent support at United Indians of All Tribes Foundation in Seattle, WA. Katie has a BA from UC, Berkeley and an MPH from the University of Washington.

He has been the project liaison with TCU partners and has visited communities to facilitate many on-site focus groups. Through these community visits, he has seen health disparities first-hand, which in turn has informed his passion to Indigenous Public Health.

Leo has a Bachelor’s degree in Japanese & Chinese languages, and a Master’s in Business Administration. He has studied linguistics and four foreign languages, and is a strong advocate for indigenous language retention and revitalization.

On a personal note, he is an outdoor nut, hiking and going on week-long backpacks to remote corners of North America, and snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing in winter locally. A non-car owner for 16 years, he bicycles Seattle’s hilly terrain daily in rain or shine.

Most recently, she worked as the Operations Director at United Indians of All Tribes Foundation before leaving her position in August 2020 to work with Seven Directions. AT UIATF Lynnette worked in juvenile justice, family care support and nearly 13 years as the Indian Child Welfare Manager. Most recently she supported the development of childhood development programs with a newly revamped preschool and home visitation services. 

Lynnette received a BA in History and Indian Studies and her passion continues to be advocacy and support of Indian Country focusing on health and well being of children, youth, families and elders.

Since joining Seven Directions, she has supported tribal public health capacity building work, conducted qualitative data analysis, curated and developed content for Gathering Grounds Indigenous Community of Practice and has also been the lead organizer of the Seven Directions StorySlams.

During her time as a student at UW, she interned for the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute. In 2018, Danielle was selected as a National Congress of American Indian Graduate Health Fellow which focuses on strengthening the next generation of tribal public health leaders.

Outside of Seven Directions, Danielle can be found at Seattle Boxing Gym or in her apartment painting. Her most recent art series was painted while listening to the sounds of Solange, Rosanne Cash, and Eddie Rabbitt.

As an undergraduate, Sofia worked on strengthening the emergency medical care system for indigenous families in Paraguay, decreasing the incidence rates of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, and on neonatal health and violence against women initiatives in India. Most recently, she has been involved in the implementation of a program addressing intergenerational trauma and child mental health among Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Sofia received a Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in Anthropology, with a minor in Human Biology. She speaks Hindi and Italian, loves design thinking and improv, and enjoys coaching gymnastics to young girls.

They have since served two terms of AmeriCorps, first in Coos Bay, OR, then in Tacoma, WA, have owned and operated Pizza Pi Vegan Pizzeria on "The Ave" near the UW in Seattle, and completed a post-baccalaureate degree in economics here at the UW where they are currently a Masters student of Urban Planning.

In their free time, Casandra enjoys sampling local brews, bicycling and coordinating a summer music education program for youth: Tacoma Girls Rock. They are interested in learning more about how zoning and land use codes on sovereign lands contribute to health, and is excited to be a part of the 7 Directions Research Team. 

With a background in forestry science, she has done research on old growth trees and has worked in natural resource policy. She is invested in environmental justice and LGBTQ+ advocacy, and is very excited to be a part of the Seven Directions team.

He has done research in evolutionary biology and public health. He is excited to be working with Seven Directions and increasing his skillset.