June 2018 Newsletter

This month we are highlighting our 2018 AIHREA graduates!  Congratulations and good luck!

Oliver Doerr: I am a student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City majoring in Health Science and minoring in Public Health. Progressing through my degree and working at CAICH has provided me with the knowledge I need to recognize and address health disparities. While here I have been afforded the opportunity to immerse myself into research and the cultures of American Indian communities. I have helped create intervention materials with CAICH to address chronic illness and seen the impact of these resources. My time here has been a transformational experience in that it has made me aware of an underserved population that ranks high in many health disparities. Immersing myself in learning and interacting with these communities has propelled my interest in serving unrepresented populations. CAICH has taught me valuable information about community-based participatory research and taught me the different steps in the research process. This has been an exciting opportunity to be part of a wonderful team and learn and work under Dr. Daley. This has been beneficial to my career path in Health Science, Public Health, and research. I look forward to continuing to learn more about AI cultures and addressing health disparities in AI communities. 

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Ryan Goeckner: I am in the Masters of Religious Studies program at the University of Kansas, focusing on American Indian religious traditions.  For my thesis research, I am exploring the ways in which academic conversations around the authority and relevance of oral traditions have had tangible impacts in American Indian communities, with a special focus on resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline by the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation.  By examining academic discussions surrounding these traditions and the relevance of these traditions to the No DAPL resistance movement, I argue that voices from the American Indian community are necessary for scholars to adequately understand these traditions.  As a part of this research, I conducted a series of interviews with Cheyenne River Sioux Nation citizens to understand these impacts in relationship to the No DAPL movement.  At CAICH I serve as the project manager on our American Indian ethnic identity project, Native 24/7.  I would like to give special thanks to AIHREA directors Sean and Chris Daley, along with all the members of AIHREA, for their unending support of my research interests and graduate career.

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Jordyn Gunville: I am currently a Susan G. Komen Scholar, and will be gradating in May 2018 with my Master of Public Health from the University of Kansas Medical Center. My Masters Research focused on Maternal Child Health. I am member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Eagle Butte, SD.  Born and raised on CRST, I have gained the first-hand experience understanding health disparities and health barriers American Indians (AI) face.  I have worked for AIHREA, either at CAIS or CAICH, since 2011. During my time I have been directly involved with research, working as project manager for the primary health screenings clinic, assisting with tobacco and smokeless tobacco cessation research, mental health, tobacco health literacy, and breast cancer research.
I am this year’s recipient of the 2018 Analee E. “Betsy” Beisecker Public Health Excellence Student Award.  I will continue to address health disparities through my current training as a student in a certification program at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and doctoral studies in Health Policy and Management at the University of Kansas Medical Center.  I am very proud of my children, JorJa (4), Jarvis (1), and am expecting my third child June of 2018.

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