Indigenous health expert and medical anthropologist Christine Makosky Daley has been appointed chair of the Lehigh College of Health’s new Department of Community and Population Health, the college’s first established department.
Before taking on the role of department chair, Makosky Daley, who joined the Lehigh faculty in 2020, served as co-director of Lehigh’s Institute for Indigenous Studies, whose mission is to improve the physical, mental, spiritual and cultural health of Indigenous communities and individuals in the U.S. and abroad. She came to Lehigh from the University of Kansas Medical Center, where she was a professor of family medicine and community health and director of the Center for American Indian Community Health.
Interim COH Dean Beth Dolan said Makosky Daley is an important resource to the college’s pre-health students and noted that she has had valuable experience in mentoring junior faculty and graduate students as a professor in the Kansas University Medical Center.
“Her research on Native American health has been continuously funded by the NIH [National Institutes of Health] for 15 years,” Dolan said, “and she will be a fantastic mentor to faculty who are seeking research funding, as well as to students interested in research and experiential learning. Makosky Daley is an experienced leader. She is the right person to guide this new department.”
The new department houses the B.S. in population health, with its accompanying minor, as well as the minors in global health and indigenous people’s health. In addition, Makosky Daley said, the college is planning to begin a B.A. in community and global health in Fall 2021, as well as a Master of Public Health (MPH), and a M.S. and Ph.D. in population health.
“We have worked together to determine the focus of the department and the degree programs that it will house,” said Makosky Daley, in reference to her colleagues. “It has been a collaborative experience of which it has been exciting to be a part.”
Daley holds a Ph.D. in applied medical anthropology from the University of Connecticut. She also earned a master of science degree in health and social behavior from the Harvard School of Public Health, a master’s degree in medical anthropology from Arizona State University and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Douglass College at Rutgers University.
