NACI Care^©: A Patient Navigation Evaluation Tool

Linda Burhansstipanov, MSPH, DrPH

"Linda B" (Cherokee Nation) taught at California State University Long Beach from 1971-1989 (promoted to full professor in 1988) and University of California Los Angeles (Part-time) from 1971-1976. During her early professional career, in addition to teaching, she worked with the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center (1985-1989) and with multiple rape and women’s violence programs and free clinics (1977-1985). She was on the Board of Directors for the American Indian Clinic (Compton and Bellflower, CA) in 1986-1989, which started her formal work within AI communities. She was the Program Director and developed the Native American Cancer Research Program at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (1989-1993) and Director of the Native American Cancer Research Program at Anchutz Medical Center in Denver, CO (1993-1998). In 1998 she created Native American Cancer Initiatives, Inc. (NACI), a for-profit, woman-owned business. In 1999 she created Native American Cancer Research Corporation (NACR) a community-based, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Profits from NACI helped support the growth of NACR during the initial 8 years of its existence. Today she continues her teaching through community based and professional trainings/workshops. As an author she has published over 145 peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters on cultural issues and cancer control among Native Americans. She also has served on multiple NIH advisory boards and scientific councils.

Linda U. Krebs, RN, PhD, AOCN, FAAN

Linda Krebs (“Linda K”) is Associate Professor Emerita at the University of Colorado, College of Nursing and President/CEO of Oncology Consultation, Education and Advocacy Network (OCEAN). Dr. Krebs works collaboratively to enhance the quality of life of Native Americans and medically un/underinsured individuals with cancer through Native American Cancer Research in Denver, CO and Native American Cancer Initiatives in Pine, Colorado. She has extensive experience in oncology nursing and in oncology education for healthcare providers and the public, holding roles such as oncology clinical nurse specialist, cancer screening practitioner, and oncology nurse consultant/educator. Dr. Krebs has served as a mentor for the Moffitt Comprehensive Cancer Center's NCI-funded Cancer, Culture and Literacy Program, as a Core Member of the NCI's Central IRB, as Director/Practitioner for the University of Colorado Hospital’s nurse-run cancer prevention and screening clinic and as a Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on locally and federally funded cancer-related projects. She is the author of more than 100 articles, book chapters, brochures and media presentations focused on cancer symptom management, prevention and early detection and cancer survivorship. Dr. Krebs has just completed her 2nd term as the Chair of the Conference Management Portfolio for the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care (ISNCC) where she was responsible for ISNCC’s International Conferences on Cancer Nursing presented yearly from 2014 to 2018 (ICCN2020 postponed).  She currently is the Chair for ISNCC’s first virtual conference, ICCN2021, to be presented in early 2021.  Additionally, Dr. Krebs is a past national president of the Oncology Nursing Society and speaks nationally and internationally on cancer care.

Lisa Harjo, MEd

Lisa Harjo is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.  Since 2000, she has been a Native Patient Navigator and Executive Director of Native American Cancer Research Corporation.  She has worked in the public health arena for the last twenty years, promoting and implementing projects that address health disparities for American Indians (AI), especially in cancer care and improved services and outcomes.  Before coming to the health field, she spent twenty years teaching all ages from preschool through higher education while also working at the Denver Indian Center as a Teacher and then Executive Director.  She also worked with over 75 American Indian tribes since 1988, providing workshops and training on a wide variety of topics.  She received her Bachelor of Science in Native American Education and Child Development in 1974 from the University of California at Davis and a Masters of Education in Elementary Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Colorado at Denver in 1986.  She lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband of 42 years and their 17 year-old granddaughter.  

Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed, PhD

Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed is a professor of Computer Science and director of Ubicomp lab at Marquette University, USA. He is a senior member of the IEEE, ACM, and the IEEE Computer Society. He completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Arizona State University, USA in 2003. His research interests include  mHealth, affective computing, non-intrusive technologies. He is active in system and application development of mHealth projects for Native American and other underserved populations like Nepal, Bangladesh.   He has published 100+ peer reviewed journal, conference and workshop papers. He has received twelve best paper/posters awards in last five years. Dr. Ahamed serves regularly on international conference program committees in software engineering and pervasive computing such as COMPSAC, PERCOM and SAC . He has been serving as the Standing Committee Vice Chair of IEEE COMPSAC, which is a since 2015. He is the Guest Editor of Computer Communications Journal, Elsevier.

Kate Jones, MA

Kate Jones, MA, is a program evaluator independent contractor. She received her MA in health care economics from the University of Cincinnati in 2003. She has over 10 years of experience designing and implementing evaluations in public health, school, and community settings. She has participated in evaluations in areas, such as tobacco prevention and cessation, physical activity and nutrition, and cancer prevention and control. Jones has experience with survey development and implementation, database management, data analysis, and data visualizations. 

Mark Dignan, PhD, MPH

Mark Dignan, PhD, MPH, is a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Director of the Prevention Research Center at the University of Kentucky.   He received his PhD in Public Health Education from the University of Tennessee and an MPH in Biostatistics from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  His research has been focused on community-based cancer prevention and control for most of his career and has included projects that developed and evaluated mass media programs, lay health advisor and navigator interventions for patients and the public, and health care provider programs designed to increase screening and adherence to follow-up recommendations among medically underserved rural and minority populations.  He is active in conducting evaluations with projects for several Native American and other rural medically underserved populations. 

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Corrie Santos, PhD

Dr. Cornelia Santos (Apache, Navajo) has an interdisciplinary focus with degrees in Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Science. She graduated with her doctorate from the University of Colorado, where she was the first Native American to graduate from the School of Educational Leadership in Denver, Colorado. After graduation, she was appointed as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Centers for American Indian and Alaskan Native Health (CAIANH). She has spent time as a research consultant and as a researcher for cancer initiatives, Denver Public Health, Native American Cancer Research, and Native American Cancer Initiatives. She is currently a professor of Environmental and Indigenous Studies at Bemidji State University where she combines the wisdom of Indigenous Knowledge with her approach to Environmental Health. Many of her projects draw on her expertise in these areas and on the improvement of the health and welfare of Native populations.