Acclaimed Physician and Public Health Researcher Dr. Donald Warne to be Johns Hopkins University co-director of the Center for American Indian Health

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has announced Dr. Donald Warne as their new co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health. He will also serve as Johns Hopkins University’s new Provost Fellow for Indigenous Health Policy.

Warne, Oglala Lakota, is an acclaimed physician and public health researcher from Pine Ridge, South Dakota. His primary focus of research is on chronic health inequities. 

Warne created the first Indigenous health-focused Master of Public Health and PhD programs in the U.S. during his time at North Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota. 

"It is an honor to welcome one of the world's preeminent scholars of Indigenous health to Johns Hopkins," Bloomberg School Dean Ellen J. MacKenzie said in a statement. "Dr. Warne has an extraordinary depth of expertise in effecting policy change and a passionate dedication to promoting health equity for Indigenous peoples. His work with our School and our University will have a far-reaching and powerful impact on the well-being of tribal communities."

Warne has also spent time working as a trustee, committee member, and adviser to national public health agencies like Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Indian Health Service, American Cancer Society, and the National Institutes of Health. 

Warne will officially start his new position on September 1, 2022, joining Melissa Walls, PhD, descendant of the Couchiching First Nation and Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe and current Director of the Center’s Great Lakes Hub, who will simultaneously be named a Co-Director of the Center, and Mathu Santosham, MD, MPH, Center Founder and Director Emeritus.  Allison Barlow will remain the Center’s Executive Director. 

“We are thrilled that Dr. Warne will also serve as Johns Hopkins University’s new Provost Fellow for Indigenous Health Policy,” says Barlow in a statement. “In this role, he will have a historic impact on Indigenous health policy to accelerate health equity.

More Stories Like This

About The Author

Author: Neely BardwellEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Neely Bardwell (descendant of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indian) is a staff reporter for Native News Online. Bardwell is also a student at Michigan State University where she is majoring in policy and minoring in Native American studies.