Center for Indigenous Health Research

Director, Bonnie Duran, DrPH

Dr. Bonnie Duran's CV - Curriculum Vitae (pdf)



Highlighted Projects & Activities

Bonnie Duran and Nina Wallerstein Share the Tom Bruce Award

Drs. Duran and Wallerstein receive the Tom Bruce award from Community Based Public Health Caucus at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Read more in press release from this award.


NARCH V: Community-Based Participatory Research with Tribal Colleges and Universities(TCU): Alcohol & Drug Problems and Solutions Study

Alcohol and drug abuse (AD) among college students are a significant and longstanding public health problem. Data from several national surveys indicate that 4 in 5 college students drink and about half of all college students engage in heavy episodic consumption. Every year, 1400 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die, and 500,000 more are injured due to hazardous drinking. Drug use among college students is very high. Since the early 1990s, the extent of college students who are daily marijuana users has increased by 110%. Abuse of painkillers has increased by more than 300% and use of stimulants is up more than 90%.

Project Goal: The long-term vision of this research is to reduce ADrelated health disparities for American Indian and Alaska Natives (AIAN), and to increase postsecondary academic success. This project, a collaboration among Center for Indigenous Health Research, NorthWest Indian College, American Indian Higher Education Consortium and the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, will use a Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach to conduct the first investigation of AD at TCU and is a preliminary step on a path toward developing culturally appropriate and sustainable interventions at NWIC and other TCU. To read more about this project see the fact sheet.

NARCH V - Research for Change: Cross-Site Multi-cultural Community-Based Participatory Research Overview:

The causes of health disparities among communities of color and other underserved populations are complex and include social, biological, economic, cultural, and historical factors. A critical step in reducing health disparities among these communities is addressing the mistrust that characterizes community attitudes towards research and to ensure authentic community engagement in improving health. This study will be an in-depth investigation of promoters and barriers to Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) with the goal of improving health status and promoting health equity. Funded through the Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH), National Institutes for Health (NIH) and Indian Health Service for 2009-2013, this research project will invite the participation of CBPR projects from all NIH Institutes and Centers to participate in a national study design to strengthen the science of how CBPR partnerships can reduce health disparities.
Aims of “Research for Change”:

  1. Assess the variability of CBPR processes to identify common promising practices and characteristics, and differences across contexts (ethnic/racial, urban/ rural, sovereign nations/other leadership, health issue); and
  2. Study associations among promising processes, and select system and capacity outcomes which were identified because of their links to improved health and reduced disparities.


Data Collection Strategies and Methodologies: CBPR sites across the country will be invited to participate at different levels: as part of the mixed method data collection, as participating projects in the multi-site leadership group, and as part of a national Community of Practice open to a wider audience of CBPR interested researchers and practitioners.
Collection methods include:

  1. A survey questionnaire of 80 CBPR projects, nationally, with an invitation to all NARCH, NCMHD, NIDA, NCI, and other CBPR projects with two years’ history. Conducted and analyzed on two levels: the partnership, and individuals within partnerships to better understand how the sites and partners have used CBPR. Dependent variables include community capacities, policy change, sustainability, health outcomes and disparities. Independent variables include context, and group dynamics on a structural, individual and relational level.
  2. Key Informant Interviews within the 80 sites designed to primarily assess factual characteristics of the overall partnership. Two leaders will answer the instrument although they may need to contact other members of the partnership for detailed information.
  3. Vignettes development for survey instrument because there are insufficient or no measures of core community-level
    CBPR constructs of context, such as level of historic trauma in a community, level of activism, or level of trust between academic and community partners. To create culturally-specific and concrete measures, we will adopt a vignette methodology to fill this measurement gap.
  4. Multiple-case study design of eight CBPR sites to probe similarities and differences across key contexts and processes allowing both experiential and empirical inquiry in order to deepen understanding of the variability of meaning, perception and interpretation of differences/commonalities across the CBPR research model. Model in: *Wallerstein, Oetzel, Duran, Tafoya, Belone, Rae, "What Predicts Outcomes in CBPR: Community Based Participatory Research for Health, From Process to Outcomes, 2nd edition,
    (Minkler and Wallerstein, eds). San Francisco,Jossey Bass 2008