Brittany Jock

Brittany Ann Wenniseri:iostha Jock is a member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe and Mohawks of Akwesasne. She is bear clan from the Akwesasne, a First Nations community that is crossed by the New York, Ontario, and Quebec borders. She received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in epidemiology. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and is working on Dr. Joel Gittelsohn’s OPREVENT2 obesity prevention program in Native communities. Her dissertation focuses on the use of policies and structural changes to promote healthy eating and active living in partnership with Native communities.

Savannah Martin

Savannah Martin is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in Oregon. She received her B.A. in Anthropology and Psychology from Dartmouth College in 2014, and shortly thereafter began her studies at Washington University in Saint Louis, where she is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Physical Anthropology. Savannah’s dissertation research focuses on health disparities in Native American communities, examining the relationship between psychosocial stressors and chronic illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Working with her tribe at home in Oregon to explore these ideas, she hopes to bring attention to the way that racism, discrimination, structural inequities, and psychological stress related to cultural identity and cultural history can have very real biological consequences. Through her work as an Indigenous anthropologist, Savannah aims to demonstrate the value of integrating Indigenous epistemologies with Western science research, and to improve relationships between anthropological and Indigenous communities. Her work was recently published in the edited volume, “The Crisis of Race in Higher Education: A Day of Discovery and Dialogue.”

Heather McIntyre

Heather McIntyre is a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, majoring in anthropology with an archaeology focus. Heather’s First Nations ancestry is Mohawk, however, ties with her ancestral community have been lost through the generations. Her studies in anthropology have helped her explore and connect with this part of her cultural heritage. She has lived in Kelowna, British Columbia for most of her life, and before undertaking her studies, worked as a real estate appraisal research analyst focusing on Reserve land lease analysis, and historical and archival research for Specific Land Claims for Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and a variety of First Nations. Her research interests include mortuary anthropology, social identity, Paleolithic and indigenous art, and human evolution. In summer 2016, Heather received an Undergraduate Research Award through the University of British Columbia Okanagan’s Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences which funded her sixteen-week research into social identity through gravestone analysis. After graduation, Heather plans to pursue research based graduate studies in anthropology.