Dr. Crystal Lee was born and raised on the Navajo Nation. Her tribal clans are Tachii’nii (Red Running into the Water), Tabaaha (Water’s Edge), Tsenjikini (Cliff Dwellers), and Kin I ichii’nii (Red House). She completed her undergraduate degree(s) at Arizona St. University; MPH and PhD in Public Health degree(s) at University of Las Vegas-Nevada; MLS in Indigenous Peoples Law at University of Oklahoma, College of Law; Predoctoral Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health; and her Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of California-Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine.
Currently she is faculty, Assistant Professor, at University of New Mexico, College of Population Health. In addition, Dr. Lee is an Indigenous HIV/AIDS Research Training Fellow at University of Washington, Indigenous Wellness Research Institute. She conducts infectious disease biomedical prevention research with a focus on Native American health and examines Indigenous health policies at a tribal, state-tribal coordination, national, and international level. She is Founder/CEO of United Natives, a non-profit organization that serves Indian Country on multiple initiatives (www.unitednatives.org), Founder/CEO of Dr. b Collections, a Native American fashion line (www.drbcollections.com) and Owner of two men's professional basketball teams in Mexico (rosaritosun.org, tecatemagic.org). United Natives was featured as one of USA Today's top non-profits addressing COVID-19 in Indian Country nationwide.
She serves as Vice Chair for the Clark County NV, Democratic Party Native Caucus, Advisor for the Nevada Office of Minority Health and Equity; and on the United Nations (UN) North American Indigenous Caucus, UN Indigenous Women’s Caucus, and UN Gender Equality Task Force. She served as a Tribal Health Advisor to the Obama Administration and was honored by President Bill Clinton for her work with Indigenous communities at the Clinton Global Initiative. Dr. Lee also serves on the Board of Director of Diversity and Inclusion for L’Oreal USA, and has partnership with the NFL Alumni Association Las Vegas Chapter. She was the 12th class of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development's 40-under-40 award.
Affiliations
University of New Mexico, College of Population Health
https://hsc.unm.edu/directory/lee-crystal.html
University of Washington, Indigenous Wellness Research Institute
http://iwri.org/people/m-crystal-lee-phd-mph/
University of California-Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine
https://chipts.ucla.edu/people/crystal-lee-phd-mph/
Peer Reviewed Scientific Publications
Brown A, Crengle S, Tewhaiti-Smith J, Westhead S, Bingham B, Brown N, Cassidy-Matthews C,
Clark T, Finlay S, Hansen KL, Harwood M, Niia K, Iversen K, Knapp J, Kvernmo S, Lee Crystal, Watts R, Nadeau M, Pearson O, reading J, Sarre A, Selijenes A, Stoor J, Eckhoff C, Saewyc E, Sebastain M, Elliott S, Larsen C, Sise A, Azzopardi P. (2021). The health and wellbeing of Indigenous adolescents: a global collective for an equitable and sustainable future. (2022). The Lancet.
Anastario M, Leston J, Crisp C, Lee MC, Rink E. (2021). A qualitative study of services
accessibility for Indigenous persons who use injection drugs across three communities in the United States. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse. In Review.
Crisp C, Leston J, Lee MC, Rink E. (2020). Interviews with American Indian and Alaska Native
people who inject drugs. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research,
27(1), 64-85.
Leston J, Crisp C, Lee C, Rink E, Reilley B, Mera J, Rink E. (2019). An interview project with
Native American people: A community-based study to identify actionable steps to reduce health disparities. Public Health, (12), 1-10.
Thompson-Robinson M, Atkins-Girourd P, Andrews J, Shegog M, Lee C. (2018). Teen
pregnancy prevention and African American faith-based organizations: Lessons learned from the Southern Nevada Teen Pregnancy Prevention Project. Journal of Public Health Issues and Practices, 2, 127.
Lee C, Thompson-Robinson M, Dodge-Francis C. (2018). Feasibility and acceptability of and adapted HIV prevention intervention for Native American adolescents. AIDS Education and Prevention, 30(1), 72-84.
Dr. Lee at the Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare week. Her co-panelists included Dr. Allreza Haghighl (Founding Director, Harvard Intl Center for for Genetic Disease, Professor David Dodick (Chief Medical and Sciences Officer Atria Health), Mr. Avik Roy (Foundatoin for Research on Equal Opportunity), Dr. Laurie Glimcher (President CEO Dana-Farber Foundation, Dr. Mohamed Al Ameri (Department of Health Abu Dhabi)
In a short documentary, Dr. Crystal Lee brings us into her fight for health equity on the Navajo Nation.
This Indigenous Scientist Helped Save Lives as Covid Devastated the Navajo Nation.
Watch the Film!
Global Collective for Indigenous Adolescent Health and Evidence Action Based. The Lancet.
This study concerns the perspectives of Indigenous persons who use injection drugs (IPWIDs) and key stakeholders across multiple sectors regarding healthcare service and treatment accessibility in the United States
The primary objective of this study was to work with tribal communities to define and develop their own healthcare services and strategies for positive change regarding injection drug use, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.
African American faith-based organizations have long been recognized as vital resources in the African American community. Within the Social Determinants of Health Framework, various barriers and facilitators to implementing HIV and STI prevention activities within these faith-based organizations have been identified.
This project gathered opinions, attitudes, and beliefs from American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people who inject drugs (PWID). The primary objective of this study was to build formative knowledge around AI/AN PWID to help define and develop health care services and strategies by better understanding existing services, barriers, and challenges to seeking care.
Relatively few HIV evidence-based interventions (EBIs) among Native Americans have been developed, adapted, evaluated, and/or published in the scientific literature. An adolescent HIV EBI was adapted in three phases.
Welcome to United Natives! Make a donation to show your support and your generous donation will fund our mission.