A Message from the Director               

Boozhoo and welcome to the Center of American Indian and Minority Health (CAIMH)!

Over the years I’ve discovered that there are many who understand a portion of what we do at the
CAIMH, but few who understand the complete picture. This update is written to rectify that oversight.

Shortly after the launch of the Duluth School of Medicine in 1972, the dedicated faculty of the school understood the importance of reaching out to the tribal communities. Funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Careers Opportunities Program (HCOP), the School launched Native Americans into Medicine (NAM), an undergraduate summer enrichment program. The work of those early visionaries led to the development of the Center of American Indian and Minority Health in 1987.

CAIMH programs are based on the Indian Health Pathway first developed in the early years. Since that time, we have incorporated an individualized, competency‐based, student centered pathway with tribal and community connections. It features a five pronged approach to student and professional development and each of the five themes are represented in all stages of programming with emphasis, as appropriate, on the academic level and the individual’s needs:

• Academic/Didactic
• Service/ Leadership
• Research
• Mentoring
• Community and Cultural Integration

This is the heart of the Indian Health Pathway at the Center of American Indian and Minority Health.
It reaches out to students as early as middle and high school and college undergraduates to encourage their desire and ability to stay in school, learn science and math, and continue to college and eventually medical school. It supports Native American medical students as they face the rigors of medical school on both the Duluth and Minneapolis campuses, and it supports Fellows in research service and training.

In the upcoming years the Center of American Indian and Minority Health will continue to address its long held mission of education, research and service. I am pleased that the University of Minnesota is second in the nation in graduating Native American medical students. More than that, these graduates are able to retain cultural beliefs while gaining their education, through the community that has been developed within the medical school and the larger Native community. This is the most important part of our mission and the only part that will support and feed the other segments of the mission. This we will continue to do.

Cordially,

Joycelyn Dorscher, M.D.
Director
Center of American Indian and Minority Health