Siobhan Wescott became the first endowed professor and director of American Indian health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health. Now she is fighting to reverse years of long-standing neglect and promote the healing of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Wescott, who is Alaskan Athabaskan, previously co-directed a University of North Dakota program that has trained more than 250 Native American physicians and worked at the national level with the American Medical Association to help create a Task Force on Health Equity. Indian Country suffered early in the pandemic, Wescott noted in an interview with Indian Country News, but uptake of the vaccine has been dramatic and, she said, based on available data, American Indians and Alaska Natives are “the most vaccinated race in the U.S.” She’s advocated for American Indians in Nebraska to “take part in creating a memorial quilt” for those in their communities who died from Covid-19.

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