Dr. Kimberly R. Huyser is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico. She received her BA from Calvin College in 2003 and her Ph.D. - Sociology in 2010 from the University of Texas at Austin with an Indigenous Studies Graduate Portfolio and a traineeship from the Population Research Center at UT, Austin. Her scholarship combines medical sociology and the sociology of race and ethnicity. The central intellectual motivation driving her research agenda is to gain a deeper understanding of the social conditions that undermine health, as well as to identify the cultural and social resources leveraged by racial and ethnic groups in the United States in order to further their individual and collective health and well-being. Dr. Huyser?s research focuses specifically on American Indian and Alaska Native peoples (AIANs), a population that has been instrumental in the formation of the U.S. and U.S. culture. AIANs are the original peoples to the continent and are the only racial/ethnic minority explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. However, as a result of historic and current marginalization, AIANs have fewer socioeconomic resources than other groups, they live disproportionately in rural areas, and are far less likely to have health insurance. AIANs provide ideal case studies for examining the historical, political, and social conditions that structure educational, occupational, and other factors that affect health and well-being. Her current and future research contributes to our understanding of the social determinants of health problems faced by AIAN peoples and it furthers our comprehension of the social mechanisms that undergird population health