The Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention Newsletter Northern Arizona University • The University of Arizona Volume 2

Spring 2015

Graduate Primer Program/ UBRP Conference 2015

In the month of January, NACP students participating in the Graduate Programs Primer, from Northern Arizona University, had the opportunity to visit the University of Arizona campus. Their trip entailed a full two-day agenda consisting of various activities. All of which, were designed to assist those students considering graduate or professional schools or in the process of going. During their visit, the students had the opportunity to meet and interact with different individuals in different sessions. Their first session was an informative one-on-one with different graduate school representatives at the UA campus. They represented the Graduate College, the College of Medicine, the College of Public Health, and the College of Science. In another, the students also participated in a SPEED mentoring session. This activity was designed for students to interact with NACP PI’s, Researchers, PSC, IAC, and Staff in a timed orderly manner. While in their last interaction, they had the opportunity to sit and listen to a panel of current Native Americans students attending the UA in health-related fields. Each of these students spoke about the journey they have taken to reach where they are in their lives now, shared advice, and gave encouraging words to the students to keep fighting to attain their dreams and 1

aspirations. In other activities, the students took part in a couple of tours, and a scavenger hunt within the University of Arizona Cancer Center, the UA Medical School, the School of Nursing, the School of Public Health, and the University Medical Center. In one of the tours, the students had the opportunity to visit the University of Arizona Laboratory for Immersive Visualization Environments (AZ-Live). This facility allows an individual to experience a interactive three dimensional world. This lab is available to many scientific disciplines such as chemistry, mathematics, engineering, and even psychology. In the last day of their visit, students involved with research projects had the opportunity to present in the Annual Undergraduate Biological Research Program Conference. Eight of our students presented out of about one hundred twenty students. In addition to a poster the session, the conference had interactive activities the students could choose to take part in. The conference ended with a motivational speech given by Dr. Parmi Suchdev, the keynote speaker. Once a UBRP participant, he is now an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Global Health at Emory University and a medical epidemiologist with the CDC Nutrition Branch.

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Spring 2015

Then&Now: What Past NACP Students Are Doing Erelda Gene is an NAU alumnus, who graduated in spring 2012, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health. She is currently a second year Optometry student attending Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) in Boston, Massachusetts. During her time as an undergraduate, Erelda was highly involved with her academics, NACP, and with other organizations including the John and Sophie Otten’s Scholarship program, the Native American Student Services (NASS), and Native Journey to Academic Sucess (NJAcS) peer mentoring program. Through her participation in these programs, Erelda’s experiences have helped her in getting where she is today. For example, she gained perspective and guidance through working with the Hopi tribe. As well as gaining insight, on what she could do for her own community once she was done with school. In addition, she gained a mentor, who she feels has impacted her life. Despite the distance, she still continues to encourage and support Erelda from hundreds of miles away. Further, Erelda was able to experience how it felt to go from being a mentee to mentor. As a mentee, she learned common obstacles first-year students face when entering college. She found she needed to learn essential skills in order to get through her first year at NAU. This included how to be responsible, manage time, and prioritize tasks efficiently while enjoying yourself despite what life throws at you. Her time as a mentor continued to mold who she was and she said she wanted to be “someone that others come to when they need help and encouragement”. Through her experiences as an undergraduate, Erelda applied to optometry school and is now currently a student. She is finishing up her second semester of her second year. It is no surprise Erelda, continues to thrive, especially in helping those around her. She is a peer mentor to a couple of first year students and assists them with how to manage the classes, study skills, workload, and stress. Up to this point, being a far distance from home to attend school has challenged her not only academically, but culturally, socially, emotionally, and mentally. The first semester was the hardest because she did not have her support system within arm’s reach nor did she have anyone that was similar to her. It was definitely an experience in knowing, that to a couple of her peers, she was the first Native American they knew and they had many questions. It took a lot of getting used to in addition to being homesick within a little over a month into the program. During this time her parents told her she needed to be strong. She started incorporating a lot of their traditional teachings into her daily life. For example, she continues to wake up before the sun rises and pray, maintains good health, keeps humble, lends a helping hand, and focuses on what she is aiming to accomplish. Each time she was presented with an obstacle of some sort, she would remember her parents’ teachings. Now, aside from classes becoming more interesting, she found a group of friends that have become a part of her family. After graduating from school, she intends on obtaining one more year of education before moving back home. During that last year, she is hoping to master laser surgery, so that she may take that knowledge back to her people because she feels it will be very beneficial for her community in various ways. She intends on moving back home to the reservation and said, “I cannot think of anywhere I would live aside from the place I grew up around. My home and people are very important to me and knowing that I can help them through my education I have gained through these past years will bring nothing but happiness to my life.” 2

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Spring 2015

Then&Now: What Past NACP Students Are Doing Amanda Tachine, another phenomenal individual, has been taking big steps in her career as well. This semester, she successfully graduated with her doctoral degree in Higher Education from the University of Arizona (UA). In addition, she has been involved with research, grants, publications, teaching, and has received numerous awards and honors over the years. Though she has accomplished many things in her career so far, she has also been a positive role model, especially to younger generations in the Native American communities. Amanda began her academic career at Northern Arizona University (NAU). She graduated in May 2000, with a Bachelor’s of Science in Elementary Education. In May 2006, she completed her Master of Arts Degree in Higher Education. While in between degrees, Amanda taught at two different schools. She first taught mathematics to 7th graders at her hometown of Ganado, AZ, located on the Navajo reservation. She then taught mathematics to high school students at Ha:san Preparatory & Leadership School, a charter school that incorporates Tohono O’odham culture into the curriculum. At Ha:san she was recognized by her students and given two awards in back to back academic years. She received “Making learning Fun,” and “Most Supportive” for the 2003-2004 school year, and “Most Supportive,” “Most Challenging,” and “Good Listener” for the 2004-2005 school year. After teaching secondary education, she moved on to the academic community at the university setting. At the UA, her presence as a role model to the younger Native American population continued. She served as the Assistant Director at the Native American Student Affairs (NASA). She advised Native American students and provided assistance and support using a holistic approach encompassing their academic, social, and cultural background. In addition, she also managed the First -Year Scholars Program. This program was developed to help in retaining Native American freshman at the university. Later, Amanda became the Program Director of the NASA. In that position, she led initiatives at NASA and developed strategies and interventions to serve the Native American student population. After 5 years, Amanda stepped down from her role at NASA to pursue her doctoral studies full-time. She then became involved with the Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP) as a Graduate Assistant with the Training Core, where she assisted the program in developing initiatives for Native American undergraduate students. In addition, she aided in promoting Native American students on to graduate programs. Amanda was awarded the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Diversity Supplement as a Pre-Doctoral Fellow with the NACP. Presently, Amanda is involved on two research projects. One project is titled Native SOAR (Student Outreach, Access, & Resiliency) where in which she and Dr. Jenny Lee developed a twotiered mentoring program to serve Native youth in the Tucson and nearby tribal communities. Native SOAR aims to address college access among Native American high school and undergraduate students. The second research project that Amanda is involved with is the Transition and Experiences of First Year Native American College Students. This is a research study to investigate the experiences and transition of Native American freshman. The goal of this project is to share insights with university practitioners and leaders as a way to increase successful facilitation among Native freshman students. Amanda Tachine has been a positive force in academia. She has been successful and well accomplished over the years, and still continues to stand as a voice and advocate for the younger generations in her Native communities. As she finishes up, she recognizes those who have helped her, including Dr. Dave Alberts, Dr. Teshia Solomon, and Dr. Margaret Briehl. Without their support, she feels that her dreams of acquiring a doctoral degree and researching on Native educational 3 issues would not be possible.

Volume 2

Spring 2015

Relay for Life 2015

Over the past several months, we have been fundraising for the American Cancer Society sponsored event Relay for Life. We had a goal of $500.00, and through fundraising and generous donations we raised $800.00 so far! Great Job! Thank you to everyone who has helped, contributed, and donated to this great cause! Donations are still being accepted! http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLCY15GW?pg=entry&fr_id=66227

Man-Up Conference 2015 On April 9th, NACP collaborated with the HOPI Cancer Services in hosting the 5th Annual Men’s Night Out Conference at the Hopi Veterans Memorial Center. The theme was “Hopi Taataqtuy Makiwa’am” (A Hopi Man’s Way). The event was organized in a culturally tailored manner, while focusing on cancer. In addition, health and wellness was incorporated along with different health screenings. The event proved to be a great success with 138 participants present from beginning to end. Thank you to everyone with your help and support with making this event a success! 4

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Presentations, Internships & Graduation Presentations Annual Undergraduate Biology Research Program Conference January 2015  

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“Identifying Novel SNPS in the 3’ UTR of KRAS” River Black, Dr. Jason Wilder “Novel Use of Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry Spine Scan to Determine Abdominal Fat in Postmenopausal Women” Mark Lee, Dr. Jennifer Bea “Quantification of Uranium in Unregulated Wells on the Navajo & Hopi Reservations” Erik Peaches, Dr. Jani Ingram “Cancer Prevention Outreach Within the Hopi, Navajo, and Urban Native American Communities” Ashley Young, Marissa Adams “An Analysis of Salivary ABP Expression in Three Genotypes of Mice Fishing for function; Discovering Genetic Interactions of the Dead-Box RNA Helicase D8P1” Phillip Belone, Dr. Christina Laukaitis “ Review of Network Therapy for Treating Substance Abuse & Potential Application with Native American Patients” Alec Perkins “Signal Transduction in Soluble Guanylate Cyclase, The Nitric Oxide Receptor” Kyle Lopez, Dr. William Montfort

NAU Undergraduate Research and Design Symposium April 2015   

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“Tribes and Historic Preservation: American Indian Religious Freedom Act” Kaitlyn Haskie “Uranium Contamination in Grasses from Leupp, Arizona” Mackenzie Simmonds, Andee Lister, Dr. Jani Ingram “Quantification of uranium in soil collected near Leupp, AZ on the Navajo Reservation” Alanna Koritzke, Andee Lister, Dr. Jani Ingram “Statistical Analysis of Uranium Exposure of Sheep Near Abandoned Mines” Josh Froyum, Andee Lister, Dr. Jani Ingram “Quantification of Arsenic and Uranium in Unregulated Wells on the Navajo and Hopi Reservation” Erik Peaches, Brandon Garcia, Jonathan Credo, Dr. Jani Ingram

54th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology AZ/ NV Conference April 2015 

“Coxiella: Potential Transmission Across the Livestock-Wildlife Interface” Cherae Bilagody, Talima Pearson 5

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Presentations, Internships & Graduation Internships 

Ethan Paddock (NAU) -Post-baccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award (POSTBAC IRTA/CRTA) -National Institutes of Health– The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Phoenix, AZ

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River Black (NAU) -National Institutes of Health- Minority Health & Health Disparities International Research Training (MHIRT) Palau, Summer 2015

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Amber Howard (NAU) -National Institutes of Health– The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Phoenix, AZ

Spring 2015 Graduates

Shelby Tracy Bachelor of Arts Psychology UA

Roselynda Conn Bachelor of Science Public Health UA

Amanda Tachine Ph.D. Philosophy in Educational Policy Studies & Practice UA

Ethan Paddock Bachelor of Science Chemistry– ACS emphasis Biochemistry NAU

Winifred Tsosie Bachelor of Science General Studies UA

Carl Haskie Associate of Science General Studies Dine College Bridges

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Courtney Joe Bachelor of Science Public Health UA

Ashely Young Associate of Science Health Occupation Dine College Bridges

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Spring 2015

2015 UA Native American Convocation– left to right– Courtney Joe, Winifred Tsosie, Roselynda Conn, Carol Seanez

Calendar of Events Summer Research Conference

July 22nd-25th, 2015

Specific Aims “The overall long-term goal of the Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP) is to eliminate cancer disparities in relation to cancer outcomes in Native Americans of the southwest. The University of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC) and Northern Arizona University (NAU) as NACP partner with Tribal communities to develop research, outreach, and training activities aimed at defining and eliminating obstacles to health equity in areas of Native American cancer incidence, mortality, survivorship, and representation. Expected outcomes include: an increase in the numbers and relevance of cancer-related research projects addressing disparities in cancer among Native Americans of southwestern US; an increase in the number and diversity of researchers at Northern Arizona University working on cancer-related projects; an increase in the number of university– Tribal community partnerships focused on cancer outreach and research; an increase in the numbers of Native American and other students moving into graduate and professional programs focused on health disparities.”

Northern Arizona University 800 S. Beaver, Bldg. 22 Rm. 312 P.O. Box 5659 Flagstaff, AZ 86011 Phone: (928)523-8593 Fax:(928)523-7313 Grant # 2U54CA143925

The University of Arizona Cancer Center 1515 N. Campbell Ave. P.O.Box 245024 Tucson, AZ 85724 Phone: (520)626-0260 Fax:(520)626-0265 Grant # 2U54CA143924 7