Denise Dillard, PhD, MS

She/her

Director of IREACH, Professor in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine 

Denise Dillard, PhD, MS, is the Director of IREACH and Professor in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. Denise is Inupiaq Eskimo and grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. She earned her PhD and MS in Counseling Psychology from Colorado State University, as well as BA in Psychology and BA in Sociology from University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Denise’s research focuses on Indigenous health among Alaska Native, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities using community-based participatory research methods. She has previously served on the Alaska Area Institutional Review Board and as the Alaska Delegate for the National Institutes of Health Tribal Advisory Committee, and presently serves on the National Institute on Drug Abuse American Indian and Alaska Native Collaborative Research Engagement Workgroup and as a reviewer for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. In 2025, Dr. Dillard was elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences. In her free time, Denise enjoys camping, fishing, berry picking, quilting, knitting, crocheting, hot yoga, e-bike riding, watching her son Reid play college baseball, and spending time with family.

  • 1994 – 1997 Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology
  • 1992 – 1994 Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology
  • 1987 – 1991 University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, B.A. in Psychology
  • 1987 – 1991 University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, B.A. in Sociology

IREACH Programs

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Denise Dillard

Institution

IREACH Teams

  • Leadership