User:Drt1001/sandbox

Krystal Tsosie is a Navajo geneticist and bioethicist who works in North Dakota. She is currently a student at Vanderbilt University where she is finishing up her PhD in Genomics and Health Disparities. She has already received a Master's in Public Health Epidemiology from the university. Tsosie previously attended Arizona State University where she received a Bachelor's degree in Microbiology and a Master's in Bioethicsundefined.

Career
Krystal Tsosie co-leads a study that investigates genetic determinants of pre-eclampsia, specifically in pregnant Native American women. The study remains focused on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indian Nation in Belcourt, North Dakota.undefined DNA mutations have been discovered to increase the risk of high blood pressure. Tsosie's team hopes that examining potential environmental and sociocultural factors will help these specific Native women in decreasing such high rates specific to their tribe. She has also focused on researching uterine fibroids in black women using genetic information.undefined Tsosie, "advocates strongly for genomic and data sovereignty and is currently assisting a Tribal nation with instituting their own policies for data privacy, biobanking, and building research space for protecting the tribe's interests" as stated by the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. undefined

Tsosie's most recent focus has been standing up for the Indigenous community during the politicizing of Senator Elizabeth Warren's genetic testing. She has continued her role as an activist by defending cultural and political identities that she feels are threatened when white people use DNA testing to find their blood quantum. Tsosie argues that being a Native American is more than what can be discovered in a DNA test, and those who take these tests and claim to belong to specific tribes may not be respecting the tribes' rules regarding membership statusesundefined.

In a post to Twitter published by Mashable, Krystal Tsosie stated, "to ascribe any power to a DNA-test result disempowers those Native Americans who do live according to their traditions. Native American identity is not one of biology, but of culture. And, crucially, “Native American” is a political designation that confers rights. If that designation becomes tied to a DNA test, it could threaten those rights." undefined