Dr. Claradina Soto (Navajo/Jemez Pueblo) is an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences. She has over 20 years working with American Indian and Alaska Native populations in public health, collaborating with urban and Tribal communities in California to reduce and prevent mental health disparities, cancer prevalence, commercial tobacco use, and substance use and opioid use disorders. Dr. Soto is a longtime advocate for the AI/AN communities and other priority populations to advance health equity and reduce health disparities.

Dr. Susan Shay is an independent researcher and a member of the Heritage Research Group at the University of Cambridge. She investigates and explores how participation in legal processes both impacts Indigenous heritage and is a meaningful tool for Indigenous empowerment. She has had an extensive career as a Registered Architect, specializing in historic preservation and adaptive reuse. Her professional practice ranged from disaster mitigation planning for community recovery and disaster recovery of historic resources to large scale commercial projects and residential renovations. Susan’s organizational experience extended from being Chief Architect for a national corporation to running her own private architectural practice. Additionally, she was Historic Preservation and Environmental Team Lead for the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), conducting legal reviews for the obligation of federal funds following catastrophic natural disasters. Susan has a PhD in Heritage from the University of Cambridge, a Master’s Degree Historic Preservation from Columbia University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from Penn State. To learn how to effectively use historic preservation as an economic vehicle to enhance community development, she also pursued graduate studies in Real Estate Development at New York University.

Aresta Tsosie-Paddock is an Assistant Professor in the Department American Indian Studies and Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona. Aresta is a citizen of the Navajo Nation from Sand Springs, Arizona. Her Navajo clans are Naakai Dine’é (Journeying People)/Tó ‘aheedliníinii (Water Flows Together) born for Bįįh bitoo’nii (Deer Springs), maternal grandfathers are Tł’ízí láni (Many Goats) and paternal grandfathers are Kinyaa’áanii (Towering House). She is a fluent speaker of her Diné language.  Her teaching and scholarly work centers and intersects with displacement and dispossession from land and cultural heritage, urban American Indian studies, Diné history and philosophy, Native women, Navajo language, and American Indian law and policy. She is involved with her Diné community to address the impacts of relocation on second and third generation Navajo relocatees. Additionally, her research includes language revitalization, language technology, and pedagogy.