Stefanie Gillson, MD, a second-year resident in the Yale Department of Psychiatry, has been chosen as an Institute Scholar by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for American Indian Health.
As an Institute Scholar, Gillson is able to take classes through the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that specifically introduce public health approaches to address mental health disparities in tribal communities.
The Center of American Indian Health partners with tribal communities to design public health programs that raise the health status, self-sufficiency, and health leadership of Native people. It is an independent center within the Department of International Health of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Its programs reach more than 100 tribal communities in 16 states.
As a member of the Dakota Tribe, Gillson said the lack of mental health support and community resources in Native American communities remains a foundation of why she pursued a career in medicine and psychiatry.
“Whereas my clinical education has taught me to care for the individual patient, I wish to build knowledge to assist in caring for an entire community, and to address population health needs from a systems perspective,” she said. “I believe that the connections between mental, physical, and cultural health need to addressed together by both clinical and public health professionals, and I strive to work within both fields to address the health needs of Native American communities.”