Denise A. Dillard, Ph.D.
Background
Director of Research
Southcentral FoundationDenise Dillard, Ph.D., is an Inupiaq Eskimo, born and raised in Alaska. She is the director of research for Southcentral Foundation, a tribal health organization which provides primary health care services for 65,000 Alaska Native and American Indian people. She interfaces directly with tribal leadership as they consider approval of research occurring in southcentral Alaska and has expanded the Southcentral Foundation Research Department from a staff of 10 to 25 employees, of which 75% are Alaska Native or American Indian. She has led a diverse portfolio of studies to address the wide-ranging health and research needs of the community served. She has served as the principal investigator (PI) of projects focused on behavioral health, diabetes, and cancer screening, as well as the ethics and translational potential of research in which genetic and biological samples are collected. She has co-led several pharmacogenetic studies as part of the Northwest Pharmacogenetic Research Network and is the current co-PI of an R01 study, which will examine how diet and the CPT1A genetic variant interact to affect the health of Alaska Native infants. In 2015, Dr. Dillard was nominated by the King Island Tribal Council to serve on the National Institutes of Health Tribal Advisory Committee, first as the Alaska delegate and now as a Member at Large.
Southcentral FoundationDenise Dillard, Ph.D., is an Inupiaq Eskimo, born and raised in Alaska. She is the director of research for Southcentral Foundation, a tribal health organization which provides primary health care services for 65,000 Alaska Native and American Indian people. She interfaces directly with tribal leadership as they consider approval of research occurring in southcentral Alaska and has expanded the Southcentral Foundation Research Department from a staff of 10 to 25 employees, of which 75% are Alaska Native or American Indian. She has led a diverse portfolio of studies to address the wide-ranging health and research needs of the community served. She has served as the principal investigator (PI) of projects focused on behavioral health, diabetes, and cancer screening, as well as the ethics and translational potential of research in which genetic and biological samples are collected. She has co-led several pharmacogenetic studies as part of the Northwest Pharmacogenetic Research Network and is the current co-PI of an R01 study, which will examine how diet and the CPT1A genetic variant interact to affect the health of Alaska Native infants. In 2015, Dr. Dillard was nominated by the King Island Tribal Council to serve on the National Institutes of Health Tribal Advisory Committee, first as the Alaska delegate and now as a Member at Large.