Healers Circle
Dr. Carmen C. Clelland, PharmD, MPA, MPH, MS is the Chief of Staff for the Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The IHS is the principal federal health care advocate and provider of health care services for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Previously, Dr. Clelland was the director of the Office of Tribal Affairs and Strategic Alliances for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Clelland holds multiple advanced degrees, including a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD), a Master of Public Administration (MPA), a Master of Public Health (MPH), and a Master of Science (MS), reflecting his interdisciplinary approach to healthcare leadership. As chief of staff, Dr. Clelland oversees the coordination of key agency activities and supports the Office of the Director in a broad range of duties related to the development and implementation of IHS initiatives and priorities.
Gilbert “Buz” Daney, Choctaw and Chickasaw, was born and raised in Upper Spenard, Anchorage, Alaska. Buz was traditionally married in 1990 and with his wife, have five grown children. His passion is singing, and is a co-founding member of Mt. Susitna Singers, Cupiit Yurartet and Native American Music Award Winners Medicine Dream.
Buz is a Culture Specialist at Southcentral Foundation’s Traditional Healing Clinic, an initiative he coordinated the launch of in 1991. Midway during his tenure of managing for almost two decades, Traditional Healing Clinic was awarded the 2010 Indian Health Service Directors Special Recognition.
Shortly after his mother retired from Indian Health Service at the old Alaska Native Medical Center in the mid- eighties, Buz began his career at Southcentral Foundation as a second-generation Alaska Native Health Professional. Four of his children joined SCF as third-generation professionals.
Buz, as an award-winning mental health worker and musician, has traveled the globe sharing songs and traditional Indigenous ways. He and his family joined World Peace and Prayer Day Ceremonies since the mid-nineties. Buz co-founded the Native American Advisory Committee to provide guidance on Indigenous ceremonies to State of Alaska Department of Corrections Religious Volunteer Ministries. Buz co-founded the Alaska Native Women’s Sexual Assault Committee in 1999, which was honored with the United States Department of Justice 2000 Native Crime Victims Award.
Robert Flying Hawk (Mato Ki Nanji) is the son of Esther and Nehemiah Flying Hawk. He graduated from Andes Central High School in 1972 and earned a degree in Sociology from Huron University in 1977.He currently serves as the Chairman of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, where he leads with integrity, cultural pride, and a commitment to community well-being.
Robert Flying Hawk is a respected elder, fluent in the Dakota language, and committed to living a drug- and alcohol-free life. He is also an active elder and lay minister at Cedar Presbyterian Church.
Michelle Kahn-John, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, CPH
Assistant Professor
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
Dr. Kahn-John is an Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She is an Indigenous nurse scientist who leads and advocates for culturally safe, respectful, and collaborative research partnerships in Native American communities. She has provided leadership in health systems for over 25 years and continues to offer clinical (psychiatric) and administrative support to hospitals and clinics serving the Navajo Nation.
Dr. Michelle Kahn-John’s is also a member of the Diné Nation and is currently the nursing program director at Navajo Technical University. Michelle’s research focus is on understanding the health benefits of Hózhó, a sacred Diné (Navajo) wellness philosophy and the health protective benefits of Native ceremonial interventions and spiritual practices. Michelle engages in multifaceted roles as a nurse, healthcare provider, AI spiritual wisdom keeper, teacher, scholar, scientist, mentor, consultant, leader and Diné woman.
Ken Masters
Board-certified psychiatrist and diplomat
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Ken Masters, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist and diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Masters received his bachelor’s degree from Rice University. As a sophomore, he cofounded the first Native American Student Association at Rice. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota, where he completed rotations on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations. In his final year in medical school, he taught biology and anatomy at Pine Ridge High School, as an intern of the ASNIYA program. He completed residency in psychiatry at the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
During his tenure there he was honored with the Stacia Michelleto Award, his third year of residency as the Outstanding Resident in Psychiatry and in his final year was selected Chief Psychiatry Resident at The Methodist Hospital, the Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Center and The Menninger Clinic. Dr. Masters is a registered tribal member of the Cherokee Nation.
He is active in several Native health and education initiatives. He is a founding member of the Native American Health Coalition, an urban Indian health advocacy organization in Houston, Texas. He is a board member for ASNIYA, an organization that provides health education and medical mentoring and shadowing opportunities to students on the Pine Ridge reservation. He has given numerous lectures and presentations on healthcare disparities, mental health barriers to care and resiliency in Native populations.
Dr. Masters resides on the Cherokee Nation reservation in Oklahoma, having returned to his childhood home in 2020. He continues to work as a community-based adult psychiatrist, serving a diverse patient population at the largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) agency in Texas and the seventh largest in the country.
Dr. T. Noelani Perreira, Psy.D. is a Hawaiian psychologist licensed to practice in Hawai’i. Currently, Dr. Perreira serves as Primary Care Psychologist at Waimanalo Health Center-a federally qualified health center-on the windward side of Oahu. Dr. Perreira studied Sociology at University of Hawaii, Hilo; completed her master’s degree in counseling psychology at Chaminade University of Honolulu and completed her Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology at Argosy University of Honolulu.
Previously, Dr. Perreira served as the Specialist assigned to implement Trauma-Informed Care, focused on reducing and eliminating the use of seclusions and restraints in child and adolescent residential treatment facilities. The federally funded SAMHSA initiative was administered by the Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division (CAMHD) Clinical Services Office (CSO) team. Currently, Dr. Perreira serves as primary care psychologist along with cultural health providers at Waimanalo Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).
Dr. Perreira’s clinical research: Spirituality, Health and Healing: Assumptions and Implication for Practice Across Multiple Approaches to Care, remains among her primary interest along with trauma informed care/service in rural Hawaii.
Steff Saavedra is the Client Relations Manager at Colusa Indian Energy and serves on the Board of Directors for A.I.R Programs. With a background as a Native American Traditional Practitioner at the V.A. in Salt Lake City, Steff is also self-employed and brings a wealth of experience to their work. Steff is a San Diego State University alum in San Marcos, California.
Ophelia Spencer serves as the Tribal Survey Coordinator at the Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board (AAIHB), where she plays a vital role in advancing health data collection and analysis for Indigenous communities. With a deep commitment to tribal health equity, she collaborates with tribal nations to design and implement culturally responsive surveys that inform public health initiatives and policy development.
Charles W. “Two Bears” Strickland
Recovery Coach, Mohegan Tribe’s Behavioral Health Department
Charles Strickland is a member of the Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut who has dedicated much of his life toward bringing aspects of traditional healing to indigenous peoples. He has trained with Eastern Woodland traditional healers, earning his rights as a traditional Mohegan Lodge Keeper, Drum Keeper, Fire Keeper and Pipe Carrier. Mr. Strickland worked as a consultant with natives of the Eastern Woodland Tribes to aid indigenous peoples to adjust to living within the greater community, while also presenting instruction on herb and plant gathering for Native American healing purposes.
Beginning in 2004, Mr. Strickland worked for the Mohegan Tribe’s Cultural/Community Programs Department and the Tribe’s Behavioral Health Department as a Programs Liaison/Behavioral Health Specialist. Later, he worked as the Mohegan Tribe’s Sober House and Recovery Coordinator, which included above-mentioned addiction services while also leading to the creation of the Tribe’s Supported Work Program to provide employment options for behavioral health clients seeking to establish themselves as employable within the community.
In 2012, Mr. Strickland was elected to the Mohegan Tribe’s Council of Elders, where he served as a Councilman and, later, Vice Chairman and, from 2020-2024, the Chairman of the Council of Elders. He founded several AA and NA Women’s Support Groups and acted as a public speaker on Native Healing as a Committee Member with the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
7 Generations Behavioral Health Center of Excellence