Title: Public Health Training Certificate in American Indian Health
Location: Navajo
I can still recall the images of my grandmother injecting medication into her stomach when I was about 10 years old. As a young child, I would always ask myself, why does my grandmother inject herself with medication? Is she okay? My curiosity served as a catalyst for my interest in healthcare and educational pathway to a pharmacy professional track.
Biography
Shannon Saltclah recently made a move from her Clinical Pharmacist position at Tsehootsooi Medical Center in Fort Defiance, AZ and is now a Project Officer for Tribal Practices with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Albuquerque, NM.
Saltclah graduated from the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy (UNM COP) in 2012 and was called to active duty with the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) in 2014. She always wanted to return back to the reservation and serve her people at the ground level.
I often hear comments from my patients saying remarks like we need more native healthcare professionals; you understand me or I can relate to you better because you are native. Not only do these comments make my day but they are the impetus for me to continue to strive to improve our American Indian and Alaskan Native communities.
Since completing her Public Health Training Certificate for American Indian Health Professionals in from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health this past summer, 2019, Saltclah has a strong interest in furthering her educational career by obtaining a Master of Public Health degree to learn more about how to apply, collect, and analyze community health data.