Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health

11/22/2025

Our stories, songs, and turquoise have always been shields of strength. Today, vaccines are another way we can keep our families and traditions strong for generations to come.

Join the horned toad family in sharing this message!

✅ Protect your loved ones.
✅ Strengthen your community.
✅ Choose to vaccinate.

This animation was created by the VaxUp team with the participation of children, parents, and elders from Tuba City, AZ, Shiprock, NM, and across the Navajo Nation, as well as art by Demetria Dale . Contact us at cih.jhu.edu if you’d like to share the video in your community!

11/22/2025

11/21/2025

🚨 Applications for the 2026 Bloomberg Fellowship are NOW OPEN! 🚨

The Bloomberg American Health Initiative is looking for dynamic individuals working on the ground in their communities to address some of the most critical challenges to public health. Applicants must apply in partnership with the organizations for which they work. Know someone who might be interested? Tell them about the Bloomberg Fellows program. Learn more: americanhealth.jhu.edu/fellowship

11/21/2025

Our Native American Heritage Month highlight series continues with Lily Gladstone 🎥 🎬

Breaking barriers in the field of acting, Lily Gladstone was the first Native American to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in Killers of the Flower Moon in 2023.

Lily was born on and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation. She is of Piegan Blackfeet, Nez Perce, and European heritage. Lily studied Acting/Directing at Montana University and began her career in acting in the 2012 film Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian.

Lily has appeared in numerous award winning movies and series that amplify Indigenous voices. Her work across film and television shines a powerful light on Indigenous stories, breaking barriers and inspiring audiences in not only our tribal communities but worldwide. As her career continues to grow, we look forward to seeing where it takes her. Perhaps an Oscar for acting, producing or directing? One thing is for sure: we love watching Lily on the silver screen.

11/20/2025

It is with great pride and anticipation that we announce the nation’s first Indigenous-focused Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) and a corresponding Indigenous concentration in the Master of Public Health (MPH) program will open for applications in 2026 at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

These groundbreaking graduate programs, offered through the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, will prepare future leaders to address the health priorities of Indigenous peoples through culturally informed, community-driven solutions.

The Center for Indigenous Health has trained over 4,000 Indigenous scholars representing more than 50 tribal communities since the inception of its training program more than two decades ago.

Read the article in Native News Online to find out more about our extensive training opportunities. https://nativenewsonline.net/sponsored-content/building-pathways-for-indigenous-public-health-leadership-drph-and-mph-programs-to-expand-on-institute-course-offerings

The nation’s first Indigenous-focused Doctor of Public Health and a corresponding Indigenous concentration in the Master of Public Health program will open for applications in 2026 at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. These groundbreaking graduate programs, offered through the J...

11/19/2025

𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝘄𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝘆!
We honor and remember the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit relatives (MMIWG2S). Indigenous women continue to face violence at rates 10 times higher than the national average.

Wearing red helps raise awareness, spark conversations, and stand in support of affected families and communities.



RESOURCES
💝MMIW — Native Women's Wilderness - https://www.nativewomenswilderness.org/mmiw
💝Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women & Girls - Assembly of First Nations - https://afn.ca/rights-justice/murdered-missing-indigenous-women-girls/
💝MMIWG2S – CSVANW - https://csvanw.org/focus-areas/trainings-and-education/land-body-violence/mmiwg2s/
💝MMIWG2S | SAFV - https://www.safv.org/mmiwg2s

11/18/2025

Join us for our third and final Native American Heritage Month event, Medicinal Tea with Dr. Meenakshi Richardson. Dr. Richardson will discuss the healing properties and cultural significance of Medicinal Tea. Register via the QR code.

☕ Medicinal Tea with Dr. Meenakshi Richardson
🗓️ Wednesday, November 19
⏰ 2:00 pm EST

11/15/2025

We Rock Our Mocs 🪶 at the Center for Indigenous Health to honor Indigenous culture and heritage.

How do you Rock Your Mocs?

Share a photo, tag us , and tell the story behind your Mocs.

11/14/2025

Please join us to hear Dr. Valentin Sierra, a guest speaker for Native American Heritage Month's Diversity Network Committee, discuss Advances in Prevention Science, Diversity, and Inclusion.

When: Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 pm EST

Register Today https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/xWoKBmkERw-aMUHQ2979sw #/registration



___________________________________

DNC Speaker Series: Advances in Prevention Science, 
Diversity and Inclusion

Speaker: Valentín Quiroz de la Sierra, PhD, MSW

Valentín Quiroz de la Sierra, PhD, MSW, is Yo’eme from the California Yo’eme (Yaqui) Indian community and currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health. Dr. Sierra’s clinical and research agendas focus on eliminating mental health disparities, particularly su***de and substance use co-occurrence, for urban Native American young people through culturally grounded practices and interventions. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Sierra worked as a Child Therapist at the American Indian Child Resource Center in Oakland, California. Dr. Sierra previously led the Helping Our People End Su***de (HOPES) Study, a 7+ year community-based participatory research partnership with the Sacramento Native American community that developed the HOPES Screener, the first culture-based su***de risk assessment tool designed for urban Native American youth. Dr. Sierra earned a PhD from the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare, where they also earned a Master of Social Welfare degree.

Dr. Sierra will introduce Fourth World Data Science, or the creation and use of Artificial Intelligence systems and machine learning methods grounded in Indigenous sovereignty that are built from Indigenous Knowledge systems, governed by Tribal nations, and accountable to land and kinship rather than colonial systems. Drawing on findings from the Indigenous Wholistic Factors Project–2, which analyzes 10 years of California Healthy Kids Survey data, the talk will demonstrate how interpretable machine learning methods can reveal distinct patterns of suicidal ideation risk among Native American youth in urban and non-urban settings. Together, these insights underscore why prevention science must move beyond one-size-fits-all methods toward sovereignty-promoting approaches that advance health and well-being for Native American youth.

The aims of the DNC presentation series are to highlight research on prevention science and public health that is led by researchers from underrepresented groups and primarily conduct research with groups that are understudied (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, individuals who identify as a sexual minority, individuals with disabilities). The presentation series will also aim to create a forum for the guest speaker(s) to share career/professional reflections as a researcher from an underrepresented group(s) and to promote discussions of diversity and inclusion in professions related to prevention science and public health.

Questions: Jennifer Lewis, SPR Executive Director, jenniferlewis@preventionresearch.org.

11/14/2025

Listen to Dr. Donald Warne, Dr. Lori Alvord, and Dr. Jonathan Baines on SurgOnc Today, discussing advocacy and mentoring of Native American and URM trainees.

Listen now: http://ow.ly/wvWK50XqKFU

In this episode of SurgOnc Today, Jonathan Baines, MD, Donald Warne, MD, and Lori Arviso Alvord, MD discuss advocacy and mentoring of Native American and URM Trainees.

11/12/2025

Join us in cheering on CIH's Dr. Katie Nelson 🌟 and Dr. Rose Weeks 🌟 as they take the stage at the Advocacy Impact Award Lightning Pitch Competition TODAY November 12 | 12–1:30 PM ET

Register to attend, in person or virtually, to have a chance to vote for Katie and Rose. https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=OPSkn-axO0eAP4b4rt8N7HMtNnJ8V4tHiKklrj0AArhURVVYTVo1RkFUS00yQkNUV0dWVEtXQUFONCQlQCN0PWcu&fbclid=IwY2xjawOBhWhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF1RVRiN1dVMnk5WGltbG5kc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHr8kVZ75HeGncypxLD8WwGWW8-OiZWN3eWIuUx3u7p0wlBO2FILYfp69FgVR_aem_BWZsXE93MN7UtHcUz2tcYA

11/12/2025

Next up in our Center's Native American Heritage Month (NAHM) series, we are excited to highlight U.S. Congresswoman Sharice Lynnette Davids.

Sharice is an enrolled member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin. Her maternal grandfather, Fredrick J. Davids, a U.S. Army veteran, was born into the Mohican Nation Stockbridge-Munsee Band in Oneida, Wisconsin. Sharice was raised by her mother, Crystal Herriage, who also served in the U.S. Army.

Her determination and hard work have earned her the following distinctions:
🔸The first openly LGBTQ Native American 🪶 elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018, representing Kansas’s 3rd congressional district
🔸J.D. degree recipient from Cornell Law School
🔸Formerly directed a community and economic development initiative for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
🔸Former professional mixed martial artist 🥋
🔸Featured TWICE as one of ’s list of Q***r 50 in 2021 and 2024

We appreciate you, Sharice, for all that you have done and continue to do for our communities. You make us proud. ✊🏽

***r50