OSU Health Science Center Receives More Than $3M For Indigenous Health Research

Global healthcare company, Novo Nordisk, donated $3.5 million to the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences to fund indigenous health research.

Dr. Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan is the director of the center for indigenous health research policy at OSU.

"They were very interested in funding indigenous health research, specifically in Oklahoma. They had become familiar with some of the statistics here about health outcomes with American Indians in Oklahoma," she said.

Dr. Jernigan said this donation will help find ways to improve the health of Indigenous people by cultivating healthy food systems and gardening practices.

"A lot of the tribes here in Oklahoma have traditional foods and food initiatives that they're currently implementing, but they don't get a lot of funding or attention in comparison to some of those more traditional diabetes, or healthy eating programs that are implemented in the clinics," said Jernigan.

She's a Choctaw citizen and said she's seen firsthand the impact food has on tribal citizens' health.

"I saw many of my own family members struggle with diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, and heart disease, stroke," Dr. Jernigan said.

She said in addition to making sure people have healthy food options, it's also getting them back in touch with their culture.

"At a deeper level, the aspects of promotion and rekindling of traditional foods is really about healing. And it's about healing some of those wounds that have occurred through the losing of our culture and the removal to reservations," she said.