NIMHD DSS: Dr. Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan

Presentation Objectives

• Purpose of the Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) funding mechanism
• Overview of nutrition-related disparities among American Indian and Alaska Native communities
• Review of selected IRINAH food system interventions to improve nutrition and related health outcomes
• Recommendations for future directions

Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., is director of the Center for Indigenous Health Research and Policy and professor of medicine and rural health at the Center for Health Sciences at Oklahoma State University.

She has been a principal investigator for more than a dozen research studies focused on improving Indigenous food systems through policy and environmental interventions. She also directs the Center for Indigenous Innovation and Health Equity, an academic-community partnership with Indigenous peoples to restore traditional foods and food practices to promote healthy diets and reduce chronic diseases.

Dr. Jernigan is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Go to Dr. Jernigan’s full bio.

Seminar Logistics

• The seminar will be videocast and available on this page and in the NIH Video archives after the presentation.
• Sign language interpreters will be provided upon request.

• Individuals who need reasonable accommodation to participate should contact Edgar Dews (phone: 301-402-1366) at least five business days before the event.