Ivanich studying indigenous substance abuse with ISMART fellowship

Photo Credit: Gateway
Thu, 06/15/2017 - 09:15

How can we help American Indian and Alaskan Native communities struggling with substance abuse?

Jerreed Ivanich, doctoral graduate student in the Department of Sociology, is developing a program of substance abuse research for AIAN communities with funding from the Indigenous Substance Abuse, Medicines and Addictions Research Training (ISMART) program at the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute (IWRI) at the University of Washington.

The ISMART fellowship is a structured, mentored training program that offers up to $2,000 in seed funding for research, travel to mentors, or receive training. Fellows have a regional mentor and an IWRI mentor, whom they work with to develop a research training and grant/publishing plan.

Jerreed is currently a graduate research assistant at the Research, Evaluation and Analysis for Community Health (REACH) lab working under the direction of departmental faculty Les Whitbeck and Kirk Dombrowski. He is also collaborating with faculty across the country on AIAN health and social network analysis.