ANNOUNCEMENTS

Yvette Roubideaux, former Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellow in Minority Health Policy (1996-97), was appointed as the new Director of the Indian Health Service. She is the first American Indian woman to head the Indian Health Service since it was founded in 1955.

On May 6, 2009, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved the nomination of Dr. Yvette Roubideaux by President Obama as the new director of the Indian Health Service. Dr. Roubideaux is the first American Indian woman to head the Indian Health Service since it was founded in 1955.

She served most recently as an assistant professor in the department of family & community medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and was also an assistant professor at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

Dr. Roubideaux has conducted extensive research on American Indian health issues, with a focus on diabetes in American Indians/Alaska Natives and Indian health policy. She previously worked in the Indian Health Service as a Medical Officer and Clinical Director on the San Carlos Indian Reservation and in the Gila River Indian Community.

Dr. Roubideaux, 46, is a member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe. She received her MD from Harvard Medical School and her MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. 

She also completed the Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy in 1997.  

Roubideaux served as the Co-Director of the Coordinating Center for the Special Diabetes Program for Indians Competitive Demonstration Projects, a program implementing diabetes prevention and cardiovascular disease prevention activities in 66 American Indian and Alaska Native communities.  She also served as Director of two programs, the UA/ITCA Indians Into Medicine (INMED) Program and the Student Development Core of the ITCA/UA American Indian Research Center for Health, that focus on recruiting American Indian and Alaska Native students into health and research professions.  Roubideaux was appointed to the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Minority Health from 2000 – 2002.  From 1999-2000, she served as President of the Association of American Indian Physicians.  

Roubideaux has received numerous awards including the American Diabetes Association’s 2008 Addison B. Scoville Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service and the 2004 Indian Physician of the Year Award from the Association of American Indian Physicians. She is co-editor of the APHA book entitled Promises to Keep: Public Health Policy for American Indians and Alaska Natives in the 21st Century. She has authored several monographs and peer-reviewed publications on American Indian/Alaska Native health issues, research and policy.

Dean Iman Hakim (Arizona) said, "Schools of public health are very fortunate to have Dr. Yvette Roubideaux leading the Indian Health Service. She will bring the public health perspective to issues relating to American Indians and Alaska Natives. We look forward to working with Dr. Roubideaux and enhancing the relationship between schools of public health and the Indian Health Service."

The Indian Health Service is "The Federal Health Program for American Indians and Alaska Natives." The agency is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Indian Health Service is "The Federal Health Program for American Indians and Alaska Natives." The agency is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

http://www.asph.org/fridayletter/article_view.cfm?fl_index=1568&fle_index=9733

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Announces-More-Key-Administration-Posts-3-23-2009/

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