Gathering Around Day 1

BIO:  Dr. Running Wolf is an enrolled Blackfeet tribal member who is professionally committed to the improvement of behavioral health and social systems in Indian Country. She is a counseling psychologist with over thirty years’ experience in American Indian education and training, research and evaluation and program development.  Dr. Running Wolf has provided evaluation, community mobilization and planning services in over fifty tribal communities. She was the lead developer and project manager for a SAMHSA contract entitled “Native Aspirations Suicide, Violence and Bullying Project”.  As an educator she has taught in a variety of settings such as elementary – secondary education, at two tribal colleges and as an Assistant Professor at Washington State University.  Dr. Running Wolf has successfully implemented national quantitative and qualitative outcome based evaluations in numerous tribal communities, both urban and reservation.As a national consultant to Federal and State entities by serving on policy making committees to include culturally competent approaches to mental health services, research, design, and evaluation.  Additionally she also served on the Tribal Evaluation Steering Team under the Children's Bureau's Child Welfare Research and Evaluation Workgroups and co-authored a recent publication the "Roadmap to Collaborative Evaluation in Indian Country".  She has since piloted the model successfully with the 2nd largest Tribal TANF program in the country.  For the past ten years she has served on the Blackfeet Nation’s Institutional Board and has previously served on the Washington State Institutional Review Board.  Dr. Running Wolf received an Associate of Arts from the Blackfeet Community College Browning MT, Bachelor of Science in both Elementary and Secondary Education from the University of Great Falls, MT, a Master of Education in School Counseling from Western Washington University, Bellingham WA and a Doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

BIO:  Tonya Kjerland has been the Research Specialist at Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa for the past two and a half years, serving as an IRB administrator and program evaluator. Prior to this, she served as Director of the Center for Community-Based Learning & Service at Gustavus Adolphus College. In the past, Ms. Kjerland provided emergency medical care, environmental technical writing, and indoor air quality services for the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. Her roots are in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and rural Kansas, and her ancestors were Arapaho and Russian-German.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts from St. Olaf College in Biology and Asian Studies, as well as a Master of Science in Water Resources Science from the University of Minnesota.  Ms. Kjerland is currently a PhD student in Indigenous Health at the University of North Dakota with interests in behavioral health, traditional food, provision of culturally safe health care, and research ethics.  Description: This presentation will offer the perspective of a Tribal IRB administrator regarding the Common Rule, OHRP guidance, NIH data-sharing policies, Tribal IRBs, and Data Sovereignty.  As a case study, the policies and procedures of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will be considered.  The aims of this presentation are: (1) to provide information about Federal and Tribal regulations, guidance, and policies; (2) to nurture respectful Tribally-Driven Participatory Research (TDPR), and (3) to encourage further study in this area.

BIO:  Wilma Tyner is an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribal member of the Rocky Boy Indian reservation.  She is also an Assiniboine Sioux on her mother's side from Ft. Belknap, Montana. Currently she is the Dean of Academics at Stone Child College.   She has been married for 44 years to Gil Tyner and together they have 5 children and 13 grandchildren. She holds her family near and dear to her heart. She was born in Ft. Belknap and raised in Rocky Boy, Montana.  For the past 11 years she has worked for Stone Child College.  She has served on various boards such as the local school board, judicial committee, and community boards, throughout her career. She has been employed at Stone Child and serves as the Institutional Review Board (IRB)Chair for Stone Child College. Wilma received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Langston University, Langston, Oklahoma and a Master of Arts degree, Educational Psychology from the University of Utah.

BIO:  Krystal Tsosie (Diné/Navajo Nation), MPH, MA, PhD candidate is an Indigenous geneticist-bioethicist at Vanderbilt University, incoming faculty at Arizona State University. As an advocate for Indigenous genomic and data sovereignty, she co-founded the first US Indigenous-led biobank, a 501c3 nonprofit research institution called the Native BioData Consortium. Much of her current research centers on ethical engagement with Indigenous communities in precision health. She also incorporates biostatistics, genetic epidemiology, public health, and computational approaches to cancer health disparities, particularly in women’s health. At the laboratory bench, she developed and patented a combined targeted ultrasound imaging and chemotherapeutic drug delivery device for treating early metastases in cancer. Krystal’s research and educational endeavors have received international media attention in such outlets as The New York Times, PBS NOVA, Washington Post, NPR, The Atlantic, Forbes, Boston Globe, among others.