38th Annual Minority Health Conference

Planning and implementation of the conference are led by the Caucus, which designates the Conference Co-chairs each year. The Planning Committee includes student volunteers and representatives of the sponsoring organizations (the Caucus, the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health Dean’s Office and Office of Student Affairs, NC Institute of Public Health, Minority Health Project).

The 2017 Minority Health Conference is pleased to announce our first ever closing keynote address, delivered by Dr. Amy Locklear Hertel! 

Amy Locklear Hertel is Director of the UNC American Indian Center (AIC), an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and a descendant of the Coharie Indian Tribe.  She also has an appointment as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the UNC School of Social Work. Prior to returning to North Carolina, Amy served as Project Manager at the Center for Social Development and Research Manager at the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, both at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, where she completed her doctoral studies. She also earned a master of social work and juris doctorate from Washington University. 

Dr. Hertel’s area of study is asset building in tribal communities as an exercise of tribal sovereignty and a means toward tribal self-determination. As Director of the AIC, she focuses on developing strategies for universities to engage Native issues, leaders, and citizens across her campus, state, and region. Amy serves on several boards and committees including as a trustee on the G.A. Jr. & Kathryn M. Buder Charitable Foundation, a member of the North Carolina American Indian Health Board, an advisory board member to the Wildacres Leadership Initiative, and a national advisory committee member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program.  She also serves as a Co-Chair for the Chancellor’s Task Force on UNC Chapel Hill’s History.