Native Sun News: Donald Warne pushed for Surgeon General

By Karin Eagle
Native Sun News Staff Writer

FARGO - Living up to his Lakota name, Pejuta Wicas (Medicine Man), Dr. Donald Warne, MD, MPH, has made the medical field his avenue to improving the lives of the people across Indian Country.

His pay off is a nod from two prominent Native organizations, who have recently pushed his name to the top of a list of nominees for the post of US Surgeon General. Both the National Indian Health Board and the National Congress of American Indians have endorsed Warne for the post.

Warne is a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe with family roots in the Medicine Root District of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Warne received his Medical Degree from Stanford University in 1995 and his Master of Public Health from Harvard University with a focus on health policy in 2002. Warne is currently the Director of the Master of Public Health Program at North Dakota State University, and serves as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Health Board.

Warne specializes in Public Health Policy, Health Disparities, American Indian Health and Family Medicine. His training includes a fellowship in Minority Health Police, 2001, at Harvard Medical School in Boston; and training in Medical Acupuncture for Physicians, 1998 at the UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles; and a Residency in Family Medicine, 1998, Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Phoenix.

Awards Warne has received during his career include the Mary J. Berg Distinguished Professorship in Women's Health, NDSU, 2012 and the Josiah N. Moore Native American Alumnus of the Year (2008) Arizona State University Alumni Association.

Boris D. Lushniak, is currently the acting US Surgeon General since July 17, 2013 following the departure of Regina M. Benjamin, who had been appointed by President Barack Obama as the 18th United States Surgeon General in July, 2009 and served a four-year term.

(Contact Karin Eagle at staffwriter@nsweekly.com)
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