Maxine Janis

Maxine Janis, PhD is the Associate Professor and President’s Liaison for Native American Affairs at Heritage University, and an enrolled member of the Lakota (Sioux) Tribe. Dr. Janis’s goals are to establish an independent research career dedicated to understanding and addressing social inequities and health disparities among indigenous populations. She mentors indigenous students interested in the health professions pathway. Her experience as a public health practitioner draws on observing the many lived experiences of indigenous people and using these experiences as a professional to integrate knowledge of traditional Native health and healing practices to advocate and advance health care standards, policies, and practices.

Dr. Janis’s focus is to effect a positive transformation of attitudes and beliefs, which have traditionally clashed in our indigenous health care delivery system. She seeks to create a transformation that might enable health care delivery systems, agencies, and professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations critical to bring about change. Dr. Janis’s continues to promote health while working with tribal communities, lay health persons, and leaders, as well as state and federal legislatures to advocate for policies on behalf of the underserved in our society. Currently, Dr. Janis is the PI for a Suicide Prevention grant and an NIH Summer Science Internship grant for American Indian/Alaska Natives high school students at Heritage University. She was involved Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB) and as part of the research team in Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) working on the Toddler Obesity Tooth Decay Study (TOTS) with tribes in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon, have provided her vast insights into many of the challenges experienced by American Indians in acquiring oral health care. She sits on the Institutional Review Board (e.g. human subject’s protections) for the NPAIHB.

She also has traveled internationally to Australia, Guatemala, New Zealand, and worked with Tibetan people of India. These endeavors clearly demonstrate Dr. Janis’s commitment to research relevant to addressing health disparities in indigenous populations. Additionally, these experiences have provided her with an understanding of the need for culturally sensitive health interventions to address and ameliorate disparities in oral health experienced indigenous peoples.