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Dr. Karina Walters
Dr. Karina Walters, an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, was born and raised in Hollywood, CA. Currently, Dr. Walters is the Katherine Hall Chambers Scholar, Associate Dean for Research, and the Co-Director and Principal Investigator of the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute at the University of Washington. Prior to her career in academia, Dr. Walters worked as a community-based psychotherapist and served as Commissioner for the Los Angeles County American Indian Commission. She focused on intergenerational traumas and its wide-spread impact on communities.

Dr. Walters has over twenty-five years of experience in epidemiological research on social, historical, and cultural health determinants among the American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) population. The majority of said social work is aimed to support urban, LGBQT, and Two-Spirit AIAN populations located in the United States. More recently, Dr. Karina Walters, has shifted her focus towards substance abuse, diet (diabetes and obesity), and HIV/AIDs prevention specifically, amongst indigenous women.

Education
Dr. Karina Walters had a poor introduction to school in her early adolescence. She was enrolled as a non-traditional English speaker because of her Native American status, which placed her in lower level classes from the start. In a video interview, Walters recounts how she would work her way up to the high-level courses only to be knocked back down to the remedial classes at the beginning of each school year. This resulted in disjointed schooling as well as a discouraged student.

After almost failing out of high school, Walter’s credits her continuation of her academic career to that of her athletic career. She was the first of her family to continue on to higher education. Karina Walters attended the University of California, Los Angeles and walked on to their tennis team in 1985. At the time the UCLA Women’s Tennis team was ranked number one in the nation. She continued with the team until she faced a career ending injury at the National Collegiate Clay Court Tennis Championships.

Karina Walters received her Bachelor of the Arts in sociology in 1987, her Master’s in Clinical Social Work in 1990, and her Ph.D. in Social Work in 1995 all from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Career
Immediately after receiving her Ph.D, Dr. Karina Walters served as faculty as an Assistant and Associate Professor at Columbia University School of Social Work from 1995 to 2001. She then joined the University of Washington faculty and earned Full Professor in 2011. Dr. Walters has presented at upwards of 360 international conferences. She was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Walters has served as Principal and Co-Investigator on over 46 National Institute of Health (NIH) grants. Currently, Karina Walters is active in the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) American Indian Scientific Committee and is Chair of the NIH’s Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) Committee.

Publications

 * Mentoring the Mentors of Underrepresented Racial/Ethnic Minorities Who are Conducting HIV Research: Beyond Cultural Competency
 * "I'm stronger than I thought " : Native women reconnecting to body, health, and place
 * Journal of Lesbian Studies " I'm in this world for a reason " : Resilience and recovery among American Indian and Alaska Native two-spirit women
 * Health Equity: Eradicating Health Inequalities for Future Generations
 * The Case for a National Health Social Work Practice-Based Research Network in Addressing Health Equity


 * Alcohol Misuse and Associations with Childhood Maltreatment and Out-of-Home Placement among Urban Two-Spirit American Indian and Alaska Native People