CAIMH graduates eight American Indian medical students

      The Center of American Indian and Minority Health (CAIMH) at the University of Minnesota Medical School is proud to announce the graduation of eight American Indian medical students on May 7, 2004.

      CAIMH honored their efforts at a graduation dinner and ceremony on May 5 at Nicollet Island Inn in Minneapolis. Graduates, their families, University of Minnesota faculty, and community members took part in the evening's events.

      Tom Stillday, Red Lake Nation elder, opened the evening with a traditional ceremony. He spoke to each student of their responsibility to the community and congratulated them on their efforts.

      Dr. Robert Powless, Professor Emeritus of the University of Minnesota Department of American Indian Studies, provided the keynote address. He spoke to the audience about the responsibilities of physicians and the commitment needed to provide American Indian communities with effective and meaningful health care. "Being a physician means carrying responsibility?seeing to the needs of the community and providing not only effective health care, but being a role model to members of the community."

      Dr. Gregory Vercellotti, Senior Associate Dean for Education and Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, was presented with a friendship blanket by Dr. Dorscher, Director of the Center of American Indian and Minority Health.

      Dr. Dorscher thanked Dr. Vercellotti for his ongoing support in recruiting and training American Indian doctors.

      In his response, Dr. Vercellotti stated, "I am honored to accept this blanket. The Center is a leader in educating Indian doctors, and I have been pleased to be a part of these efforts."

      Each graduate was presented with a beaded stethoscope, a symbol of the joining of Western medicine and American Indian traditions.

      The graduates at the dinner (and their residency matches) were: Lyle Biegler, Cheyenne River Sioux (Sioux Falls Family Practice, South Dakota); Jeffrey Kenny, Osage (Tulane University, Internal Medicine, Louisiana); and Bret Benally Thompson, White Earth Ojibwe (Alaska Family Practice, Anchorage). Graduates not present were: Troy Adolfson (UMD Family Medicine, University of MN Radiation-Oncology); Kari Johnson Messner, Seneca, Grand River (University of MN Medical School Radiology-Diagnostic); Matthew Raddue, Blackfeet, Montana (University of Minnesota Medical School, Anesthesiology); Michael Switzer, Navajo (Marcopia Medical Center, Surgery, Arizona; and Norma Walks, Oglala Souix (deferring residency).

      As one of the three Native American Centers of Excellence in the nation, the University of Minnesota Center of American Indian and Minority Health (CAIMH) strives to raise the health status of the Native American population by educating Native American students in the field of health care and Indian health. CAIMH provides support to Native American students to attain their medical degree, with many returning to their communities to deliver culturally sensitive health care to their own people.

      American Indians continue to be the most underrepresented of the minority groups in medicine. In 1990, American Indians represented only 0.12% of the total number of physicians. Over the course of the last three decades, CAIMH and the University Schools of Medicine have graduated more than 7% of the American Indian doctors in the nation.

      In 2003, the University of Minnesota School of Medicine graduated 7.3% of all American Indian physicians in the US and anticipates graduating approximately 8% in 2004 (according to the most recent statistics). AAMC reports that the University of Minnesota ranks second in the number of Native American medical graduates while ranking 19th in the total number of medical school graduates (2002).