Biography
Brett Lee Shelton is Oceti Sakowin Oyate, enrolled at the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He joined the Center in April 2023 as Co-Director of the Policy and Advocacy Core (with Dr. Donald Warne as Director) in an arrangement with the Native American Rights Fund. He has written several articles and chapters related to the legal history of Indian Health, and remains committed to advancing Native health in many ways through his work. At the Center, Brett will assist in policy and legal history instruction and development of the Core as an integral part of Center work. His work for ten years at NARF prior to joining the Center has focused on the Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative, Boarding School Healing work, and Sacred Places protection. He has worked as policy analyst for the National Indian Health Board, in private practice covering a wide range of issues faced by Tribal governments, and as a grassroots organizer around issues of genetic and traditional knowledge research targeting indigenous populations worldwide. He received his law degree from Stanford University, and a Master of Arts from the University of Kansas.
He is based in Boulder, CO.