Katie Lynch (she/her) is a proud Citizen of the Potawatomi Nation and scholar-activist, passionate about improving the health of Indigenous communities. She is currently a Ph.D. Student in Health Infrastructures & Learning Systems at the University of Michigan Medical School as a Rackham Merit Fellow. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers University – New Brunswick in May 2024.
Katie is a researcher who studies Indigenous conceptualizations of learning health systems and food sovereignty, with interests in place-based healing, Indigenous epistemologies, and community-based participatory research. On campus, she is heavily involved in the Native American Student Association (NASA) and serves as an elected representative of the Rackham Student Government. She is also a trained peer educator on social justice topics and a mentor to young Indigenous women in STEM. Katie is the recipient of the 2024 STEAM Trailblazer Award, the first Indigenous student in Rutgers’ history to be recognized by the Udall Foundation and a member of the Cap & Skull Senior Honor Society. Outside of academics, she is also a TEDx speaker, a former White House Intern during the Biden-Harris Administration, and a member of the projects and podcasts teams at The Indigenous Foundation. She found her passion for advocacy through internships at Merck, the White House and the American Heart Association.
In the future, Katie hopes to pursue a career in academia and to work towards increasing access to culturally-relevant healthcare interventions in urban/suburban Native communities. She finds strength in community, collectivity and the power of Indigenous people to exist in spaces designed to resist them. Her long-term professional goal, in simple terms, is to give back to her Indigenous community and make a difference in the lives of Indigenous people around the country and world.