Melissa Lewis | Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation

Public Health Expert + Modeling Lifelong Community Learning

Parents aren’t suppose to have a favorite kid, and in that spirit, I’ll walk a very thin line as I talk about my favorite Cherokee women scholars. I’ve never met a Cherokee scholar that I haven’t learned a great deal from and we keep tabs on each other at ThinkTsalagi for academic purposes. That being said, I LOVE Melissa Lewis and her work in public health and relearning/reclaiming Indigenous ways in our communities.

OSIYO TV (Voice of the Cherokee People) has a great video where you can get a glimpse of her expertise in this area, but it’s broad and she is prolific in her writings.

Melissa is a “maker” to use entrepreneurial speak. She takes the time to be better everyday at being outside and learning about plants. She makes salves and lip balms and other healing things that I have appreciated. But I highlight here because it’s time to but the scholarly stuff on this page too and I’ll share just 3 of her publications that I hope will help you expand your horizons. Grab a cup of elderberry tea and put your reading glasses on and help me celebrate this amazing Cherokee women, mom, friend.

These are broken down by topics and linked out to the full articles.

• Recruiting and Retaining Indigenous Healthcare Professionals (with co-authors)

• Preparing Healthcare Workforce to Effectively Work with Indigenous Patients (just published in 2020!)

• Culture as Prevention and Treatment (with co-authors including Remember the Removal Goddess Sara Holcomb and Melissa’s husband and one of my favorite artists Joseph Erb)

~ Stacy Leeds, January 3, 2021