Title: Institute Scholars
Location: Navajo
I work in public health to be the voice for the soft spoken or unspoken individuals who may not know how to advocate for themselves but more importantly is creating and developing a clinic that specifically caters to the 2SLGBTQ population within the Indian Health Services. I believe, it is long overdue and their health needs to be a priority just as any cisgender person receiving services within the IHS.
Biography
Trudie Jackson is currently a second-year doctoral student at the University of New Mexico. Her current focus is on American Studies, researching Indigenous, gender, decolonization and social justice movements. Public health has always been a passion of Trudies. She believed the more training and knowledge gained from trainings and educational seminars would help her grow professionally.
Trudie received her Master of Science from Arizona State University in American Indian Studies with a focus on Tribal Leadership and Governance. She also received her Bachelor of Science from Arizona State University in American Indian Studies focusing on Public Service and Public Policy. Trudie heard about the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health Institute courses during her tenure working as a public health advocate for a local urban native health organization in Phoenix, AZ. She also had colleagues go through the program and heard them talk about how much they learned. What inspires her to work in public health is making sure the underserved and underrepresented populations have a voice, because they are too often overlooked. She is tired of being categorized as other in data reporting. In the future, Trudie hopes to apply for a 501(3)c nonprofit status and open the first American Indian Transgender Clinic in the Southwest that would specifically serve individuals that are transitioning or fully transitioned with much needed services such as medical, mental health, social services, housing employment, job trainings and judicial/legal system services.