About Us

Mary Owen (MD)

Founder + Co-Lead

Dr. Owen is a member of the Auk Kwaan Tribe of the Tlingit people. On graduation from the University of Minnesota Medical School and Family Practice Residency Program, she returned home to work for her tribal community in Juneau, Alaska. In 2014, after eleven years of full-scope family medicine, she returned to the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth as the Director of the Center of American Indian and Minority Health (CAIMH). Her work includes recruiting and supporting future Native American physicians and teaching medical students and health care providers important components of providing healthcare to AIAN communities. Dr. Owen continues to provide clinical care at the Center of American Indian Resources in Duluth.

Norma Poll-Hunter (PhD)

AAMC Co-Lead

Norma Iris Poll-Hunter, Ph.D. serves as Senior Director in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). She provides strategic direction for workforce diversity initiatives across the medical education continuum and develops strategic partnerships and initiatives. Dr. Poll-Hunter initiated the co-development of the Action Collaborative for Black Men in Medicine with the National Medical Association, and the Indigenous Health Education and Resource Taskforce (IHEART), a multiorganizational collaborative with the Association of American Indian Physicians and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. She leads a portfolio of faculty diversity leadership development programs and serves as Co-Investigator for the NIH-National Institute of General Medical Sciences TRANSFORM program to increase diversity in academic medicine senior leadership. Dr. Poll-Hunter serves as the Principal Investigator for the RWJF Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP), the largest national workforce intervention serving nearly 1,000 diverse students each year to increase health workforce diversity.
Dr. Poll-Hunter is a thought leader, author, and scholar on diversity, workforce development, and culturally responsive education and training. Prior to the AAMC, Dr. Poll-Hunter practiced as a bilingual psychologist in New York and led community-based programs in the Bronx. She earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Albany, SUNY, and her BA in Psychology at Lehman College, CUNY.

Blair Matheson

AAIP Co-Lead

Dr. Matheson (Cherokee) is a medical director for National Medical Resources, a firm that provides locum tenens physician, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner staffing. A North Dakota resident, Dr. Matheson primarily serves rural Native American populations. His practice is in general surgery and emergency medicine with a specialization in trauma.

Dr. Matheson both serves as an arena doctor and competes in team roping and senior breakaway for the Indian National Finals Rodeo. He has previously partnered with Stanford’s equestrian team, donating equipment and horses to support the Western program, providing instruction in Western-style riding, inviting students to North Dakota to learn the basics of ranching, and hiring students as ranch hands during the summer.

Dr. Matheson serves as a Board President of the Association of American Indian Physicians, which his father, Dr. Thomas Matheson, helped found in 1971, and as a member of the SAIO 50th Anniversary steering committee.

In addition to his Stanford degree, Dr. Matheson holds an M.D. from the University of Oklahoma. He completed his residency in general surgery at Maricopa County Hospital and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and his residency in family practice at the University of Oklahoma.

Tyler J. Parisien (EdD)

AIHEC Co-Lead

Tyler J. Parisien, Ed.D. serves as the Director of Health Initiatives at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), where he supports the development and coordination of Native health education, research, and workforce initiatives across Tribal Colleges and Universities. His work focuses on strengthening health pathways, advancing community-engaged research, and supporting efforts to address health disparities in Tribal and rural communities.

Dr. Parisien also serves as Allied Health faculty at Turtle Mountain College, where he has dedicated more than a decade to Tribal higher education. During his tenure, he has held numerous leadership and instructional roles, including Medical Laboratory Technician Program Director, Allied Health Department Chair, Genetics Lab Student Supervisor and Co-Principal Investigator, and Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs. His experience includes overseeing accredited health programs, developing new allied health and public health credentials, managing federally funded grants, and leading academic assessment, accreditation, and faculty development efforts within a Tribal College context.

Dr. Parisien holds a Doctor of Education in Higher Education Leadership from Concordia University, along with a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science from the University of North Dakota. He is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. His professional background includes extensive clinical laboratory experience as a certified Medical Laboratory Scientist, as well as scholarship focused on Indigenous STEM education, public health education, biomedical research engagement, and decolonizing research methodologies. His publications include peer-reviewed and invited works in Tribal College Journal, the Tribal College and University Research Journal, and edited volumes addressing Indigenous leadership, health education, and community-based research.

Dr. Parisien is a contributing author to the nursing and clinical sciences textbook Laboratory Screening and Diagnostic Evaluation: An Evidence-Based Approach, with a chapter examining MTHFR genetics and its relevance to laboratory screening, diagnostic evaluation, and evidence-based clinical practice.

Jason Deen (MD)

Dr. Jason Deen (Blackfeet) is Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Washington, in the Divisions of Cardiology. He is the director of UW Medicine’s Center for Indigenous Health. He is a graduate of the American Indian Health Pathway through the Center of American Indian and Minority Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Deen serves as the Vice Chair for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Department of Pediatrics, Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Native American Child Health, and co-Chair of the American College of Cardiology’s Internal Medicine Pathway program, leading the Indigenous cohort. As a Multiple Principal Investigator of the Strong Heart Study, his main research interests are cardiovascular health disparities in American Indian communities and cardiovascular risk stratification in American Indian youth.

Antoinette Martinez (MD)

Antoinette Martinez, MD, is Chumash and resides in Northern California serving as a Family Medicine and Obstetrics provider for United Indian Health Services, Inc. This is a PL-638 tribal health clinic which provides primary care services to numerous indigenous tribes within Humboldt and Del Norte counties including the Yurok, Wiyot, Tolowa, Karuk, Hupa, and numerous others. Dr. Martinez graduated from the University of North Dakota INMED (Indians into Medicine) School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She has done research on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) and American Indian Women on a North Dakota reservation, and published Cost of Smoking and Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure in California American Indian Communities in 2000. She completed her Family Medicine residency at the University of California Davis Medical Center in 2009, in addition to completing three years in OB/GYN residency in 2006.
Dr. Martinez is Co-Director of the University of California Davis School of Medicine Tribal Health PRIME (Programs in Medical Education). She precepts numerous medical students and Family Medicine residents and serves as a member of the California Medical Association JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) committee. Dr Martinez continues to be active in cultural practices, traditional ceremonies and horseback riding.

Julie Gattenio

Julie Gattenio is a Research Associate at the San Diego Natural History Museum and a health equity advocate focused on expanding pathways into healthcare for underserved communities. She co-leads the CA/HI region for the IHEART initiative and holds leadership roles with San Diego County’s Behavioral Health Advisory Board (BHAB) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Julie has presented research nationally and has publications in citizen science and community-engaged scholarship. She is currently preparing for medical school with a strong interest in community-centered care and public health.

Christopher Derby (MD)

Christopher Derby, MD, descends from Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University. He attended medical school at the University of Michigan where he graduated Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society. Dr Derby completed general surgery residency at the University of Virginia followed by cardiothoracic surgery residency at the University of Southern California. He then completed his congenital heart surgery fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He is board certified in General Surgery and Thoracic Surgery. He is currently a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon at Nemours Children’s Hospital Delaware where he is Surgical Director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. His passion is prioritizing lifelong care and a heart-healthy lifestyle for children born with congenital heart disease.

Breanna De Leon (MPH, ScM)

Breanna De Leon (Lipan Apache) is a PhD candidate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. Her research explores HIV prevention, harm reduction, and social-structural determinants of health among Native Americans. Breanna has interned with the Association of American Medical Colleges, working on the Indigenous Health, Education, and Resources Taskforce since 2021. She serves as one of the co-regional hub champions for the East and Southern Plains region.

Kristen Rowan

Kristen Rowan is the Training & Development Coordinator for Oklahoma State University in Oklahoma City. Ms. Rowan specializes in creating, planning and managing training programs for students, businesses and organizations. She produces trainings that are meaningful, dynamic and that help individuals become more aware of themselves and their organization. Her passion for helping people to be the best version of themselves in both their personal life and work life is the motivating source that makes their programs successful. For the last seven years, Ms. Rowan and her team have been able to double their enrollments and create more opportunities for the community and state than ever before within the department.

Drew Babcock

Drew Babcock is proud to be a two-time graduate of the University of Montana earning both a B.S. in Athletic Training and M.S. in Health and Human Performance. A native Montanan, he was born in Kalispell and raised in East Glacier and the Browning area on the Blackfeet Reservation. He is an Amskapi Piikuni (Blackfeet). He spent his high school years in Las Vegas, NV, then returned to Montana on a collegiate track scholarship and has stayed in the Missoula area since 2002.

Mr. Babcock always been interested in healthcare, which is a big reason for him becoming an athletic trainer, spending over 16 years as an athletic trainer with Grizzly Athletics. Throughout his collegiate and post collegiate education he has become passionate about healthcare inequity, especially in regard to American Indian/Alaska Native populations and frontier settings.

In his current position with the Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana, he is the liaison with their IHS, Tribal, and Urban Indian organizations. He also focuses on faculty and resident doctor education, American Indian med student recruitment, and workforce and pathway development.

Roberta Zayas (MCRP, MPA)

Roberta Zayas is a member of the Diné (Navajo) Nation. She is born for (maternal clan) Tsénabahiłnii (Sleeping Rock People clan) and born into (Paternal clan) Táchii’nii (Red Running into the Water People clan). Her maternal grandfather is Tsénjíkiní (Cliff Dwellers People clan) and her paternal grandfather is Tódích’íi’nii (Bitter Water clan). She currently resides in Albuquerque, NM but hails from a place known by her grandparents and their children as Red Willow Springs, Arizona, a rural area in the mountains of Northeastern Arizona located on the Navajo Reservation near Sawmill, Arizona.

Ms. Zayas currently serves as a Program Manager with the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) specializing in community partnerships, community capacity building, and positive youth development with a focus on supporting diverse populations. In her current role, she oversees the expansion of programs, establishes sustainability of programs into communities, provides project planning, and oversees operations of the projects. Ms. Zayas has collaborated in community work with rural communities throughout New Mexico and Arizona, with indigenous communities and youth. Her efforts are focused on advocating for the underserved populations and believes that being a culturally responsive individual entails using the indigenous value-based approach to community development and utilizing the 7-generation model to carry out community development. Her educational background includes a B.S. in Sociology, M.C.R.P in Community Regional Planning, and M.P.A. in Public Administration.

Sarah Kjorlien

Project Manager

Sarah Kjorlien brings a deep commitment to community, sustainability, and equity to her role as Project Manager. She holds a Masters in Public Policy and has been involved in local organizing around housing, reproductive healthcare access, and environmental sustainability. Prior to joining IHEART, Sarah worked in education and communications where she specialized in outreach, management, event planning, and collaborative leadership. She has lived in Arizona and the United Arab Emirates, and currently resides in northern Minnesota where she grew up. Sarah is drawn to the IHEART mission by its focus on transformative, systemic change through improving educational and health outcomes for Indigenous communities.

Eric D. Johnson, MPH

Communications Coordinator

Eric D. Johnson, MPH, is a public health consultant specializing in communications, evaluation, research capacity-building, and health equity. He has worked on many NIH-funded efforts for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), including the IPERT and NARCH programs, AIM-AHEAD, and most recently the IHEART initiative. His work supports Tribal Colleges and Universities in developing inclusive, culturally grounded pathways into biomedical and data science research.

Beyond Indigenous health, Eric’s portfolio includes projects focused on rural health systems, HIV prevention, and lupus self-management—with particular emphasis on underserved communities.

Eric holds a Master of Public Health from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and was a Fellow of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute’s HIV Health Equity Leadership Program.