Lonnie Nelson, PhD

Lonnie Nelson, PhD, is a descendant of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. He joined the faculty of the Washington State University College of Nursing in 2015. He works with his colleagues at Partnerships for Native Health to address health disparities through multiple avenues. His current research interests focus on the elimination of health disparities in urban and other American Indian and Alaska Native populations. Lonnie’s preferred approach to changing health behaviors is to implement culturally adapted evidence-based interventions and other patient-centered models, such as motivational interviewing and harm reduction counseling. He earned a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona in 2004 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in rehabilitation psychology in 2005 at Harborview Medical Center, which is operated by the University of Washington. After completing the Native Investigator Development Program, which is currently administered by Washington State University and the University of Colorado, he joined the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center in 2007. His work in that role involved interventions focusing on neuroplasticity to help military personnel with traumatic brain injury recover cognitive functioning. In 2012, Lonnie returned to the field of Native health disparities through a Patient Centered Outcomes Research Career Development Award (K12) at the University of Washington School of Public Health. He lives just outside of Cheney, WA with hiswife and daughter.