Staff from IWRI attended the American Indian Higher Education Consortium’s 33rd Annual Spring Conference in Billings, Montana March 15-18, 2014. The conference brings together students, staff, faculty and community members from Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) across the nation. IWRI staffed a table at the conference and provided information about our projects, as well as…

IWRI’s Indigenous HIV/AIDS Research Training (IHART) and Indigenous Substance Abuse, Medicines, and Addictions Research Training (ISMART) programs gathered in Washington, D.C. May 28, 2014, for the 4th Annual Research Institute. This year, the Research Institute was held in conjunction with the Society for Prevention Research’s 22nd annual meeting, entitled “Comprehensive and Coordinated Prevention Systems: Building…

Kyle is a “hapa” (half Japanese, half Caucasian) ally, who has worked in IWRI since 2010 as a Curriculum Coordinator for the Native Youth Enrichment Program and Research Coordinator for various projects at IWRI, and an Evaluator for a Youth Suicide Prevention and Tribal Youth Diversion project for a Pacific Northwest Tribe. When hired, Kyle…

Two ambitious drug and alcohol studies were launched this spring by the Center for Indigenous Health Research, part of the IWRI-NCE, in partnership with tribal colleges and the UW’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute and the Center for the Study of Health and Risk Behaviors. One, the Tribal Colleges and Universities Behavioral Health Adaptation of…

Sixty-three attendees, including successful Native bachelor and master degree recipients in the School of Social Work and School of Public Health; their families, friends, and supporters; as well as School of Social Work and IWRI staffers, celebrated the individual and collective achievements at a delicious brunch held at the Talaris Conference Center, near the UW…

On Thursday, February 20, 2014, the Native Youth Enrichment Program (NYEP) hosted a high school symposium called “Fry Bread Nation.”  This one day symposium was to educate Native American and Alaska Native Youth on the diabetes epidemic in Indian Country. NYEP partnered with the University of Washington’s Education Outreach Genome Sciences Director, Dr. Maureen Munn;…

The health disparities between urban Indians and the general population are little known, and they are shocking, writes Seattle Times guest columnist Polly Olsen. In December, the Seattle City Council voted to make a difference in the lives of our city’s urban Indians. Specifically, the council voted to allow the Seattle Indian Health Board to…

The “Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds” research study was designed to improve the cardiovascular health of a Northwest American Indian population. Local community resources and input from tribal members were used to develop study materials and protocols. The study offers a new health program in hopes of helping community members protect themselves against diabetes, obesity, and…

We see evidence of sugar’s devastating health effects every day. Take a close look. Over there it’s rotting a child’s teeth, over there it’s taking a diabetic’s foot, and, hey, over there it’s costing the clinic thousands of dollars to treat preventable conditions. What can we do about it? A great place to start is…

When I first saw the announcement that Keawe was going to speak at UW, I got excited. It was the same kind of excitement that people get when their favorite music group is coming to town and they can’t wait to see the show. I know…I know…I’m a nerd like that. I suppose it is…