Dr. Kelly Gonzales, PhD, MPH (she/her)

Dr. Kelly Gonzales is the Founder and Executive Director of the Indigenous Health Equity Institute and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. A community advocate, organizer, researcher, and educator, she centers her work on the priorities and wisdom of Native communities.

Dr. Gonzales earned her doctorate in public health and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the University of Colorado’s Native Investigator Program. Her mentors include leading Native scholars such as Dr. Spero Manson, Jillene Joseph, Abigail Echo-Hawk, and Michelle Jacob.

She has served Indian Country in numerous capacities—developing national health programs, mentoring emerging Indigenous leaders, and advancing efforts to decolonize and Indigenize public health systems. Currently a tenured Associate Professor in the OHSU–Portland State University School of Public Health, she created the nation’s first undergraduate concentration in Indigenous Health.

Dr. Gonzales also co-founded Oregon’s BIPOC Decolonizing Data Council, a temporary group that helped state and regional public health address COVID-19 related data, and serves on multiple community and state advisory boards to share perspective and guidance to advance Indigenous health justice, knowledge and data sovereignty.

Her work is available in peer-reviewed journals