Keynote & Featured Speakers


Keynote Speakers

Minerva Cordero, PhD

Dr. Minerva Corerdo is the Vice Provost for Faculty Success at the University of Texas, Arlington, where she is a Professor of Mathetmatics. In 2016 she received the Great Minds in STEM Award in Education and was named a Mujer Legendaria de Ford. In 2019 she was selected as an ambassador for the AAAS IF/THEN Ambassadors Program. As part of this initiative, a life-size statue of Dr. Cordero was on exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum and is currently on exhibit at the Centro Criollo de Ciencia y Tecnologia del Caribe in Puerto Rico. In 2022 Cordero received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. Cordero holds three degrees in mathematics: Ph.D. from U Iwoa, M.A. from UC Berkeley, and B.S. from the University of Puerto Rico her native land.
 

Joan Y. Reede, MD, MPH, MS, MBA

Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership; Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Reede has a lifelong passion for mentoring and supporting diversity in the biosciences. She is responsible for the development and management of a comprehensive program that provides leadership, guidance, and support to promote the increased recruitment, retention, and advancement of underrepresented minority faculty.

While at HMS, Joan created more than 20 diversity and leadership-focused programs, including founding the HMS Minority Faculty Development Program and the Biomedical Science Careers Program. Before joining Harvard, she served as the medical director of a Boston community health center and worked as a pediatrician in community and academic health centers, juvenile prisons, and public schools. She has held many advisory roles, serving on the HHS Advisory Committee on Minority Health and the Secretary’s Advisory Committee to the Director of NIH. Dr. Reede is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Reede graduated from Brown University and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She holds an MPH and an MS in Health Policy Management from Harvard T. H. Chan School, and an MBA from Boston University.
 

Donald Warne, MD, MPH (Oglala Lakota)

Donald Warne, MD, MPH (Oglala Lakota) serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Indigenous Health and as a tenured, Full-Professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD where he also serves as the Provost Fellow for Indigenous Health Policy. Dr. Warne is also the Senior Policy Advisor to the Great Plains Tribal Leader’s Health Board in Rapid City, SD. Dr. Warne is a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe from Pine Ridge, SD and comes from a long line of traditional healers and medicine men.

Donald Warne received his MD from Stanford University School of Medicine in 1995 and his MPH from Harvard School of Public Health in 2002. His work experience includes: primary care medicine; Staff Clinician with the National Institutes of Health; Indian Legal Program Faculty with the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University; Health Policy Research Director for Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona; Executive Director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board; Chair of the Department of Public Health at North Dakota State University; and Associate Dean of the School of Medicine & Health Sciences at the University of North Dakota. Dr. Warne is also a member of the Stanford University Alumni Hall of Fame.


Featured Speakers


Abigail Echo-Hawk, MA (Pawnee)

Labeled the “Unapologetic Auntie of Indigenous Data” by the New York Times, Abigail Echo-Hawk is a national leader in public health research and the decolonization of data. She is revolutionizing the integration of Indigenous knowledge within public health systems and reshaping how governments, institutions, and medical professionals approach health for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Echo-Hawk's groundbreaking research and tireless advocacy around violence against Indigenous women have spurred policy changes across all levels of government. As a leading voice in the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) crisis, she co-authored a report that brought national attention to the data issues and the staggering number of MMIWG cases in 71 urban cities across the U.S.

Echo-Hawk has served on a number of scientific research committees, including for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which oversaw the development of a framework for an equitable distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine.

A proud citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, Echo-Hawk is the Executive Vice President of Seattle Indian Health Board and Director of its research division, Urban Indian Health Institute. Through these roles, she continues to champion Indigenous health, using her platform to inspire and drive meaningful change.
 

Jorge Jimenez, PhD (Akateko)

Dr. Jorge Jimenez, PhD is the self-proclaimed “Mayan Bioengineer” with areas of expertise in medical technology product development, front-end healthcare innovation, and drug delivery research. As a descendent of Akateko people, a Maya ethnic group in Guatemala, Dr. Jimenez centers the lived experience of indigenous farm workers in his bioeingieering praxis.

An award-winning (NSF-AGEP, NIH-T32) biomaterials researcher, Jorge developed drug delivery systems for rare eye diseases, earning a PhD in bioengineering from University of Pittsburgh in 2021.To expand impact in the healthcare field, Dr. Jimenez pivoted from academia to leadership in the medical technology industry.

Currently, Dr. Jimenez is a Staff Engineer as part of the Technology Leadership Development Program at Becton, Dickinson, and Company (BD). This rotational development program has accelerated Dr. Jimenez’s career with assignments spanning multiple business segments and locations within BD, a top 10 global medical technology company.

In addition to academic and industry training, Dr. Jimenez continues to share the legacy of Maya people in STEM as the CEO of Mayan Bioengineer LLC. By sharing this legacy, Dr. Jimenez provides further evidence of the Central America diaspora in U.S. higher education and STEM workforce.


Naomi Lee, PhD (Seneca)

Dr. Naomi Lee is from the Seneca Nation of Indians and grew up on the Cattaraugus Reservation in western New York. Dr. Lee received a B.S. in biochemistry from Rochester Institute of Technology. She also completed an M.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Rochester. Currently, Dr. Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Northern Arizona University located in Flagstaff, AZ. She is also an affiliated faculty member to the NIMHD-funded Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative (SHERC), the NCI-funded Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP) partnership, and NAU’s Center for Materials Interfaces in Research and Applications (¡MIRA!). Her research focuses on vaccine design and addressing health disparities in Native American communities. Dr. Lee is the founder and co-director of the Cultural and Academic Research Experience (CARE) program that aims to encourage historically excluded high school students into STEM and health science careers. In addition, Dr. Lee is also a Major in the Army Reserves assigned as a Functional Specialist (FxSP/38G) to the 322nd Civil Affairs Brigade in Honolulu, Hawaii. Previously, she was a Military Police Officer, Senior Training, Advising, and Counseling (TAC) Officer, and Logistics Officer in the Army National Guard.
 

Desiré Delia Whitmore, PhD

 

A Blaxican American and Southern California native, Dr. Desiré Whitmore, aka “LASERchick”, began her education in Community College and holds degrees in Physical Sciences, Chemical Engineering, and Chemical and Material Physics. Her research focus was in the development of very fast laser systems to study single molecules vibrating, electrons traveling across the surface of metals, and the fluorescence of semiconducting Quantum Dots. After her postdoc, Desiré wrote K-8 science curriculum for Amplify Science, was the Director of the Laser and Photonics Technology program at Irvine Valley College, and is now the Staff Physicist Educator in the Teacher Institute at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Her current work is focused on providing support and professional development to middle and high school science teachers to help them teach through inquiry, with an emphasis on equity and inclusion.