Ethics Grand Rounds: Ethics At the Intersection: Discussing End of Life Choices With American Indian and Alaska Native Patients

Mary J. Owen, MD, is a member of the Auk Kwaan Tribe of the Tlingit people. She was raised in Juneau, Alaska and has been involved in Native health since the age of three when she received her health care from the Indian Health Service. She attended medical school to serve her tribal community which she did for eleven years before returning to academia where she recruits and supports Native American students to become healthcare providers and where she teaches on caring for Native patients and communities. She is the immediate past-president of the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP). As AAIP president, Dr. Owen created two national programs to support Native American students. The Indigenous Health Education and Resource Task Force (IHEART) aims to create regional networks of support networks for Native students in grades K-post-graduate education. The second effort is the Indigenous Health Educators Alliance (IHEAL) which aims to mimic the national standards for Indigenous medical education that exist in Australia and New Zealand. Dr. Owen continues to provide clinical care at the Center of American Indian Resources in Duluth, Minnesota.