Siobhan Wescott: steadfast advocate for Native American health

Abstract

At preschool in Cambridge, MA, USA, during the early 1970s, Siobhan Wescott recalls being attacked by her fellow classmates for being a Native American. “At 4, I physically experienced racism for the first time. That really shaped my wanting to not have people feel uncomfortable in new places just because of the colour of their skin or their identity”, she says. Wescott, who is Alaskan Athabascan, became the inaugural Dr Susan and Suzette LaFlesche Professor of American Indian Health and Director of the American Indian Health Program in the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), Omaha, NE, USA, in July, 2021. “Dr Susan was the first Native American physician”, she tells me, but the LaFlesche sisters were “both very strong public health advocates”. This position is a fitting one for Wescott, who says, “public health is my passion”.