Many modern day Native Americans in the U.S. have multiple roots, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. That lived experience often leaves them looking for a way to strengthen or even rebuild a connection with that Indigenous lineage in an authentic way, part of what Kyle Lakatos, MD, MPP, MSc, calls a “reconnection journey.”
Lakatos and Bowles joined Brooke Warren, MD, and Jemzi Ortiz, MS, - all four Native American students from UCSF’s professional schools - at a traditional blanket
ceremony celebrating their graduations this month. The ceremony was hosted by the UCSF Native American Health Alliance (NAHA) and UCSF Association of Native American Medical Students (ANAMS), and is a widely practiced tradition among different tribes and communities to acknowledge or celebrate milestones achieved by members of the community who are moving on or advancing to new journeys in their lives.