Tribal COVID Liaison / Emergency Operations Center

Background

I am from a small Tlingit village in southeast Alaska, called Klukwan. I obtained my Bachelor’s in Public Health from Fort Lewis College in 2017. I graduated from NDSU’s MPH program in 2021 and am also a student in NDSU’s Community Development program.

NDSU Specialization 

Community Health Sciences

How did the NDSU MPH prepare you for the workforce? 

I learned how to create community based programming that was specific for my tribe. I also learned how to preform research needed to build community profiles needed for grants. Getting my MPH during the COVID pandemic helped me in real time apply for grants to help my tribe mitigate and respond to COVID.

Current position

Tribal COVID Liaison / Emergency Operations Center

How are you impacting the health of your region? 

I helped create our Tribal Emergency Operations Center and am actively responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our village has had a high vaccination rate, zero deaths, and continues to have adequate COVID protocols at community events.