Indigenous Wellness Research Institute

Mahina-Scientific Mentor Network


August 7, 2017

Jane Simoni, PhD

Dr. Jane M. Simoni assumed the role of NIH Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and Director of the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) on July 30, 2023. In this capacity, she led OBSSR’s initiatives to advance and synchronize behavioral and social sciences research across NIH, collaborating closely with…


Nancy Krieger, PhD

Nancy Krieger, PhD is a Professor of Social Epidemiology in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard University. She is a social epidemiologist, with a background in biochemistry, philosophy of science, history of public health, and involvement as an activist in issues involving social justice, science, and health. Her work involves: (a) etiologic…


Selina Mohammed, PhD

Selina Mohammed, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Washington Bothell, School of Nursing. Her academic interests are anchored in the areas of social justice, community health, culture and diversity, social determinants of health, and race, class and gender. Her scholarship endeavors fall under the rubric of health disparities. She has…


Leonie Pihama, PhD (Te ātiawa, Ngāti Māhanga, Ngā Māhanga ā Tairi)

Leonie Pihama, PhD (Te ātiawa, Ngāti Māhanga, Ngā Māhanga ā Tairi), is a Senior Research Fellow at the Te Kātahi Institute, University of Waikato, and Director of Māori And Indigenous Analysis Ltd, a Kaupapa Māori research company. She has a long history of involvement in Māori education, including te kāhanga reo and kura kaupapa Māori (total…


Rose James, PhD (Lummi Tribe/Duwamish)


Alison Boyd-Ball, PhD (Colville Tribe)

Alison Boyd-Ball, PhD (Colville Tribe)


Megan Bang, PhD (Ojibwe)

Megan Bang, PhD (Ojibwe) is Assistant Professor in the UW Department of Educational Psychology, in the College of Education. Her work has two critical components: 1) working at the immediate and practical levels of improving teaching and learning with Indigenous youth and communities with a primary focus on science education, and 2) to conduct transformative…


August 3, 2017

Melissa L. Walls PhD (Bois Forte and Couchiching First Nations Anishinabe)

Melissa L. Walls Ph.D. (Bois Forte and Couchiching First Nations Anishinabe) is a social scientist committed to collaborative research and has over a decade of experience working with tribal communities in the United States and Canada. Her involvement in community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects to date includes mental health epidemiology; culturally-relevant, family-based substance use prevention…


July 28, 2017

Michelle Johnson-Jennings, PhD (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma)

Photo of Dr. Michelle Johnson-Jennings

July 26, 2017

Myra Parker, JD, PhD (Mandan & Hidatsa)



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