The Center of Health Equity Research welcomes postdoctoral scholar Amanda Hunter on June 1. Hunter recently completed her doctorate in Health Behavior and Health Promotion at the University of Arizona with her dissertation “Native Spirit Boys & Girls Club: Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Culturally Grounded After-School Program for American Indian Youth in an Urban Setting.”
Hunter also earned a Master of Public Health from the University of Arizona in 2016. Her master’s report was titled “Hualapai Youth Resilience Through Cultural Engagement” with her advisor, Nicolette Teufel-Shone, assistant director of CHER and a professor in the Department of Health Sciences.
Hunter has a certificate in college teaching from the University of Arizona, and is a mental health first aid instructor for the National Council for Behavioral Health in Flagstaff. For three years, she also worked as a graduate research assistant for CHER in two projects: the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Smoke Free Homes Project and the Havasupai Tribe Native Connections.
In 2019, Hunter received the Native Children’s Research Exchange Student Scholar award, and in 2018, she received the American Indian and Indigenous Health Alliance Community Service Award. In 2017, she received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from Congressmen Raul Grijalva for service and commitment to Native American in cultural enrichment, community leadership, and cancer prevention.
Hunter served as a graduate mentor for the Leadership in Health Equity for American Indian Research Development (LEAD) program and the Native Student Outreach, Access, Resiliency (SOAR) program, and she cofounded the Yaqui Student Alliance.