Steven Harris, Jr., Village of Afognak
Pacific University
Steven is an Alaska Native and a Tribal member of the Native Village of Afognak. He will be a first-year Ph.D. student at Pacific University studying clinical psychology this fall. Steven earned his Bachelor of Science from Chaminade University of Honolulu. Upon graduating, Steven attended the University of Pittsburgh as a Hot Metal Bridge Fellow and worked as a research assistant in their Brain Aging and Cognitive Health Lab. Recently, he has been involved in multiple projects focused on Alzheimer's Disease and Related dementias (ADRD) and health disparities among American Indians and Alaska Natives. He has also been engaged in an Indigenous ADRD Data Advisory Group, whose goals are to establish a National Institute on Aging policy to ensure ADRD data are collected, housed, and disseminated in culturally responsive and respectful ways; made accessible to Indigenous communities; and of use to Tribal Nations. As an aspiring scientist–practitioner, Steven hopes to offer psychotherapeutic services to Native peoples through the Indian Health Service and engage in neuropsychological research to improve and inform culturally relevant assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of ADRD.