UA News

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Dr. Yvette Roubideaux to the position of director of the Indian Health Service.

Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, assistant professor of family and community medicine at The University of Arizona College of Medicine, to the position of director of the Indian Health Service in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Roubideaux has conducted extensive research on American Indian health issues, with a focus on diabetes in American Indians/Alaska Natives and American Indian health policy.

Roubideaux previously worked in the Indian Health Service as a medical officer and clinical director on the San Carlos Indian Reservation and in the Gila River Indian Community.  

Roubideaux, 46, is a member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe.

She received her MD from Harvard Medical School and her master's in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. She also completed the Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy in 1997.  

Roubideaux is the co-director a program implementing diabetes prevention and cardiovascular disease prevention activities in 66 American Indian and Alaska Native communities. 

She also serves as director of two programs, the UA/ITCA Indians Into Medicine Program and the Student Development Core of the ITCA/UA American Indian Research Center for Health, which focus on recruiting American Indian and Alaska Native students into health and research professions. 

Roubideaux was appointed to the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary's Advisory Committee on Minority Health from 2000-2002. From 1999-2000, she served as president of the Association of American Indian Physicians.  

Roubideaux has received numerous awards including the American Diabetes Association's 2008 Addison B. Scoville Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service and the 2004 Indian Physician of the Year Award from the Association of American Indian Physicians.

She is co-editor of the APHA book entitled "Promises to Keep: Public Health Policy for American Indians and Alaska Natives in the 21st Century." She has authored several monographs and peer-reviewed publications on American Indian/Alaska Native health issues, research and policy.