PHR held a public discussion on the compounding impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on American Indian and Alaska Native populations, including the excessive rate of infection and death, threats to livelihood, and systemic inequalities that affect community members’ safety and well-being.
Distinguished panelists
- Shaquita Bell, MD is the medical director of the Seattle Children’s Hospital’s Center for Diversity and Health Equity, a practicing pediatrician at the Seattle Children’s Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic, and a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington.
- Abigail Echo-Hawk, MA is the director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, chief research officer for the Seattle Indian Health Board, and an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma.
- Spero Manson, PhD is a distinguished professor of public health and psychiatry and director of the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health at the Colorado School of Public Health, the Colorado Trust Chair in American Indian Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and a member of the National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the Tribal Collaboration Working Group of the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program Advisory Panel.
The panel was moderated by Dr. Beyrer, who is the Desmond M. Tutu Professor of Public Health and Human Rights and professor of epidemiology, international health, health, behavior and society, and nursing at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, director of the Johns Hopkins HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Science Training Program, and a member of PHR’s Advisory Council.