Associate Professor, Public Health
Gonzales, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and an Indigenous scholar, teaches public health students through anti-racist and decolonizing praxis, which addresses gaps in current systems of public health by naming colonialism as a primary determinant of health and centering Indigenous values, ancestral wisdom, and self-determination as a pathway to Indigenous health equity.
All of her work uses healing justice, Indigenous feminisms, and relational frameworks, which promote systems change by incorporating Indigenous values and knowledge to collaboratively address Indigenous health inequities through the tools of public health, education, research, data, and advocacy. Her work focuses on American Indian and Native American populations with regard to diabetes, health care engagement, and retention in health interventions. Currently, she offers counsel to OHSU and PSU leadership, faculty and students, and County and Statewide public health leaders on decolonizing and Indigenizing health equity.