In March 2025, IHEART members gathered online to exchange insights, resources, and support to achieve our shared goals of enhancing educational pathways for AI/AN students in the health sciences. The objectives of the 2025 virtual summit were to:
- Create an opportunity for collective strategic planning for the IHEART initiative to guide our work in the coming years;
- Translate IHEART’s national objectives to the regional level in order to empower regions to come up with systems-level solutions to challenges in AI/AN workforce development;
- Share timely developments in health workforce recruitment, higher education, and state/federal legislation and policies to understand how we can move IHEART’s mission forward amidst these changes; and
- Launch new tools for IHEART members to use in the promotion of existing pathways programming.
The summit was kicked off with an opening prayer and Keynote Workshop facilitated by Vickie Oldman, Co-Manager at Seven Sisters Community Development Group. Following her keynote presentation, panelists engaged in a discussion on trends in health workforce recruitment. Other sessions included a panel discussion on policy changes in higher education and health and a discussion featuring Native students enrolled in postbaccalaureate programs.
A full recap of the summit is available here.
Recordings of the sessions are viewable on the IHEART YouTube channel.
