Bonnie Duran Dr.PH (mixed race Opelousas/Coushatta descendent) is a Professor in the Schools of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Washington, and is the Director of the Center for Indigenous Health Research at the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute (http://health.iwri.org ). She received her Dr.PH from UC Berkeley School of Public Health in 1997. Bonnie teaches graduate courses in Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR), Health Promotion/Disease Prevention, Social Justice and Health, Critical Social Theory and Mindfulness in Social Work Practice. She has worked in public health research, evaluation and education among Tribes, Native Organizations and other communities of color for over 35 years.
Dr. Duran is currently the Principal Investigator of 2 NIH funded research projects in “Indian Country”. Working with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and 25 Tribal Colleges, she is conducting 2 studies; (a) a psychiatric epidemiology prevalence and correlates study (N=3,202, and (b) a TCU-cultural adaptation of Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS). Dr. Duran is also Co-PI of an NIMH funded R25 HIV and mental health research training program. Her past work includes partnering with the Navajo Nation, Indian Health Service and Indigenous Community Based Organizations on frontier rural projects aimed at improving health services, and developing culture-centered health promotion.
The overall aims of Dr. Duran’s research are to work in partnership with communities to design health treatment and prevention efforts that are empowering, culture-centered, accessible and sustainable and that have maximum public health impact. She has many publications including articles in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and books. (See her profile here and here). Dr. Duran is an Editor of Community-Based Participatory Research for Health: Advancing Social and Health Equity, 3rd Edition coming out in November. See here.
Bonnie Duran is also a Buddhist mindfulness practitioner and teacher. She teaches long and short mindfulness retreats at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS dharma.org) in Massachusetts and at Spirit Rock Meditation Center (SRMC Spiritrock.org) in California, as well as other venues throughout the US.