ATLANTA, GA – The CDC Foundation has appointed Donald Warne, MD, to its Board of Directors. Warne, a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe from Pine Ridge, SD, is a distinguished public health expert and advocate for Indigenous health. As the Co-Director of the Center for Indigenous Health, a tenured full professor, and provost fellow at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, Warne brings extensive knowledge in addressing health disparities affecting Indigenous communities.
“Donald’s expertise in public health and his focus on improving the health of Indigenous populations will greatly enhance our ability to support these and other communities,” said Judy Monroe, MD, President and CEO of the CDC Foundation.
Warne’s extensive career spans diverse roles in healthcare, research and academia, reflecting his commitment to Indigenous health. He served as a primary care physician for the Gila River Health Care Corporation in Arizona and later as a staff clinician with the National Institutes of Health. Warne heads the Great Plains Hub of the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, which through partnering with local stakeholders, traditional healers and traditional medicine, the center aims to help create sustainable change so that community members live longer, healthier lives.
Warne’s experience includes positions as Health Policy Research Director for the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Executive Director of the Great Plains Tribal Leaders’ Health Board, and faculty member at the Indian Legal Program of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He has also held leadership roles in academia, including Chair of the Department of Public Health at North Dakota State University and Indigenous Health Department Chair and Associate Dean at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences.