GRAND FORKS — David R. Wilson has been named the inaugural associate vice president for health research and chair of UND’s world-first Department of Indigenous Health, the university has announced. Dr. Wilson’s first day will be Jan. 1.
“It is an absolute honor to be selected to continue the outstanding work in health research ongoing at UND’s medical and health sciences college and across the university,” Wilson said in a statement released Friday, Dec. 1, by the university.
Wilson is a member of the Navajo Nation, born to Tódich’ii’nii (Bitter Water Clan) and born for the Honágháahnii (One-Walks-Around Clan), and most recently worked as a senior policy adviser with the White House Council on Native American Affairs in Washington D.C., according to the release. He has also served as the inaugural director of the National Institutes of Health’s Tribal Health Research Office.
He was the keynote speaker at UND medical school’s Indigenous Trauma and Resilience Research Center’s inaugural symposium in 2022.
As chair, Wilson will provide strategic leadership and direction for all aspects of health research across the university, the release said. He will report directly to UND Dean and Vice President for Health Affairs Joshua Wynne, and will work closely with incoming
Vice President for Research and Economic Development Scott Snyder.
“I am so pleased that we have been able to recruit Dr. Wilson to serve as chair of the Department of Indigenous Health following
the departure of inaugural chair Dr. Don Warne
for Johns Hopkins University about a year ago,” Wynne said in a statement. “Dr. Mel Nadeau has done a stellar job as interim chair and I know that she is looking forward to Dave’s arrival in January. And given that Scott Snyder will join UND around the same time as Dave, UND’s research enterprise will be