Native American health professional training keeps growing with $3.4 million award

More Native Americans will be encouraged and supported as they pursue careers in health care, thanks to renewed federal funding for a unique Oregon Health & Science University program.

The Northwest Native American Center of Excellence at OHSU is receiving a total of $3.4 million over five years from the Health Resources & Services Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funding is a competitive renewal of the initial federal grant that enabled the center’s founding in 2017, and complements other support the program has received in recent years.

“We’re determined to break down the many barriers that prevent Native Americans like me from becoming doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses and more,” said Erik Brodt, M.D., an Ojibwe family medicine physician who is the center’s founding director and is also the assistant dean for Native American health in the OHSU School of Medicine.

By Franny White

Northwest Native American Center of Excellence at OHSU is receiving $3.4 million over five years from the Health Resources & Services Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funds will help expand professional school-career options for American Indians and Alaska Natives. (OHSU)