First Native American Youth Initiative
Native American high school students from different tribal nations around the country participated in the first ever Native American Youth Initiative (NAYI) during the week of June 23-27. The students explored academic and career opportunities at NIH, where they visited different ICD's and learned about important areas of research.
Phyllis Greene, executive director of NAYI and coordinator of job training at the Baltimore Indian Center, underlined the importance of this program for the Native American community. "Our vision for the future, if our people are to survive, is to become educated and trained in the new biomedical fields of the 21st century. The shortage of Native American health professionals and the lack of culturally sensitive health providers has led to underutilization of the health care system by Native Americans."
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Participants in NAYI belong to diverse Indian tribal nations such as Navajo, Piscataway/Conoy, Osage, Fort Sill Apache, Lumbee, Sioux, Choctaw and Kiowa. Above, NAYI Executive Director Phyllis Greene is shown with John Medina, Diversity Program manager at NIH (front row, fifth and fourth from l, respectively). |
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