Melissa Walls, PhD, MA, is an Indigenous researcher who works with American Indian and First Nations communities to promote health equity through culturally centered projects.
Research Interests
Community-based participatory research; health equity; Indigenous health; community interventions; diabetes prevention; mental health; substance use
Additional Links
Experiences & Accomplishments
Education
PhD
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
2007
MS
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
2004
BS
University of Minnesota
2002
Overview
Melissa Walls, PhD (Bois Forte and Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe) is Director of the Great Lakes Hub for the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health and Associate Professor of American Health in the Department of International Health.
Dr. Walls is an Indigenous social scientist committed to collaborative research with Indigenous communities to promote health equity. Her involvement in community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects to date includes mental health epidemiology; culturally-relevant, family-based substance use prevention and mental health promotion programming and evaluation; and examining the impact of stress and mental health on diabetes. Dr. Walls’s collaborative work has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Dr. Walls is an Indigenous social scientist committed to collaborative research with Indigenous communities to promote health equity. Her involvement in community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects to date includes mental health epidemiology; culturally-relevant, family-based substance use prevention and mental health promotion programming and evaluation; and examining the impact of stress and mental health on diabetes. Dr. Walls’s collaborative work has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Honors & Awards
CDC Office of Minority Health Health Equity Champion, Summer 2021.
Advising and Mentoring Award, UMN Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, 2015.
Early Career Scholarship Award. Midwest Sociological Society, 2012.
Advising and Mentoring Award, UMN Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, 2015.
Early Career Scholarship Award. Midwest Sociological Society, 2012.