Data collected from the Association of American Medical Colleges shows that from 2018 TO 2020 UNDs medical school ranked in the 100th percentile higher than any other school in the database for the fraction of its graduating medical student class to identify as American Indian. In recent years prior to 2018, the school ranked in the 99th percentile.

In its nearly 50-year history, the INMED program has produced almost 1,000 American Indian health professionals, including more than 250 physicians.

I like to say that an organization like the UND SMHS (School of Medicine and Health Sciences) is characterized by not just what it says, but also by what it does, Joshua Wynne, vice president for Health Affairs at UND and dean of the medical school, said in a statement. The INMED program is a testament to our commitment to deliver on the imperative to move toward more health equity implicit in former President Nixons Special Message on Indian Affairs.

Nixon gave that policy speech 50 years ago this month on July 8, 1970.

Donald Warne, director of the INMED and master of public health programs at the UND medical school, said the policy speech not only paved the way for reversing the federal governments termination policy, which had rescinded the sovereignty of American Indian tribes, but strove to improve American Indian health in several ways.

Warne said people, including his students, are sometimes surprised to hear that Nixon was instrumental in promoting tribal sovereignty. The 1970s was an important decade for indigenous rights, including taking over management of schools from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and improved access to and control over tribes' health care needs. The 1970s also brought the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which reversed a law that had made indigenous religious practices illegal in the 1880s.

In the 1970s, it was kind of a renaissance of American Indian policy and law, Warne said.

Nixon's policy reversal also played a direct role in creating UNDs Indians Into Medicine program, which was founded in 1973. The program was originally established through federal appropriations. The programs mission is to improve American Indian health and produce more American Indian health care providers, from physicians and physical therapists to occupational therapists and public health researchers.

I think without federal support, this would not be as successful as it is, Warne said, noting there is a long way to go to address disparities in education and health. But at least at UND, we're doing our part.

The medical school is also launching a new doctoral program in indigenous health, the first of its kind.

I think in many ways, the University of North Dakota is well positioned to be the national leader in medical education, and public health education and doctorate level, health professions education really for many years to come, Warne said. Our starting point is really a national leader, but I envision a lot more growth from here as well.

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UND continues to lead the nation in American Indian physicians - The Dickinson Press