Kade Lenz, GLITEC PM (acting), won a Wisconsin Public Health Association Award for ‘Excellence in Advancing Policy’. This year’s winners were celebrated by the Wisconsin Public Health Association at the Public Health Conference, May 20, in Wisconsin Dells.
The Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Epidemiology Center (GLITEC) was recently recognized through the Wisconsin Public Health Association’s 2026 “Excellence in Advancing Policy” Award for work supporting Tribal public health systems, partnerships, and policy advancement across the Great Lakes region.
While the recognition was presented to Dr. Kade Lenz, the work reflects the collective efforts of Tribes, Tribal public health staff, epidemiologists, environmental health professionals, leadership, and community partners working together to strengthen public health infrastructure serving Tribes.
GLITEC serves Tribes and urban Indian communities across Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Chicago through a wide range of public health initiatives focused on improving health outcomes and strengthening Tribal public health capacity. Over the past several years, GLITEC staff and partners have worked to advance initiatives related to Tribal data sovereignty, emergency preparedness, environmental health, chronic disease prevention, dementia and brain health, maternal and child health, infectious disease response, and community-driven public health planning.
Much of this work has focused on strengthening collaboration between Tribes, state health departments, federal agencies, universities, and national public health organizations while ensuring Tribal voices remain central in decisions impacting Tribal Nations. This includes efforts supporting Tribal epidemiology infrastructure, regional emergency preparedness coordination, culturally grounded community health assessments, environmental health initiatives, and improved access to Tribal public health data.
GLITEC has also supported work related to Tribal Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) development, data use agreements, public health workforce development, and technical assistance for Tribal health departments and programs. Across projects, the emphasis has remained on building sustainable systems that respect Tribal sovereignty while supporting community-driven public health priorities identified by Tribes themselves.
In addition to regional work, Dr. Lenz serves on the National Tribal Toxics Council under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP). Through this role, he contributes to national conversations surrounding environmental health, toxic exposures, chemical safety, and environmental justice impacting Tribal Nations.
In February 2026, Dr. Lenz met with OCSPP leadership and staff at EPA Headquarters in Washington DC, to discuss Tribal environmental health priorities and emerging public health concerns impacting Tribes. Discussions included environmental exposures, chemical safety considerations, public health infrastructure needs, and the importance of Tribal representation in national environmental health decision-making processes.
For GLITEC, the Wisconsin Public Health Association recognition represents more than a single award. It reflects the growing visibility of Tribal public health leadership and the importance of investing in Native-led public health systems that are culturally grounded, community-driven, and responsive to the unique needs of Tribes.
The recognition also reflects the strength of the broader team at GLITEC and GLITC. Recent recognitions across the organization include:
Together, these recognitions reflect the depth of expertise, collaboration, and commitment across the organization and the Tribes served by GLITEC and GLITC. They also highlight the growing national recognition of Tribal public health leadership and the importance of supporting Native-led solutions to improve health outcomes for future generations.
Kade Lenz, PhD, MPH
Program Director – IHS Epidemiology Cooperative Agreement; Interim Program Director – TECPHI
Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Epidemiology Center (GLITEC), Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, Inc.
Tribal healthcare experts, policy officials and system leaders from across the country are raising concerns about proposed federal funding changes that could affect care in Native communities.
During a recent episode of Native America Calling, a national call-in radio program focused on Indigenous issues, health professionals and policy strategists discussed how reductions to key programs could impact patients and providers.
On February 13, 2026, the National Indian Health Board hosted a panel discussion titled, “Public Health Authority: Sovereignty in Action”. Panelists included:
The panel discussed how Tribes and TECs use public health authority as an expression of sovereignty. Tribal sovereignty is a Tribe’s inherent right to self-govern, and protect or enhance the health safety, and welfare of its citizens. Public health authority is the authority to protect population health and safety, which includes access to HIPAA-protected health data to surveil disease and evaluate health interventions. Panelists discussed how Tribes and TECs use public health authority to improve the health and well-being of Tribal communities.
Dr. Warren Mears discussed the work and role of Tribal Epidemiology Centers (TECs) in public health. The public health authority of TECs differs from the inherent authority that Tribes have as sovereign nations. TECs were granted public health authority through the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act of 2010 (25 U.S.C. §1621m). This allowed for TECs to access data, data sets, monitoring systems, delivery systems, and other protected health information to perform 7 core functions:
Both Tribes and TECs are federally authorized to access health data for public health surveillance; however, only Tribes can enact and enforce laws regarding public health. This includes laws and policies like vaccination requirements, safety regulations in occupational services, food inspections, and quarantine for infectious outbreaks. TECs work at the direction of and in support of the Tribes they serve.
Even with recognized public health authority, Tribes and TECs have difficulty accessing data from federal and state agencies. In a March 2022 Government Accountability Office report, officials found a lack of federal policy for TECs to access Health and Human Services data, resulting in agency officials not recognizing federal legal requirements to provide data and a lack of guidance for TECs to request data under federal law.
Despite the obstacles TECs and Tribes face in accessing data, NWTEC works with state and federal partners to access data on behalf of the Tribes we serve. We work closely with the Indian Health Service to access and utilize patient registration information to reidentify American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/ AN) people in state and federal datasets, providing accurate statistical analysis for the Tribes we serve, helping increase the public health capacity of Tribes.
“You, as tribal leaders, can expect us to support important tribally driven intiatives at your request,” said Warren-Mears. To build lasting relationships with Tribes, it is important that Tribes lead strategic planning, and TECs recognize and uphold Tribal Sovereignty. Over the last several years, NWTEC has been working towards data modernization. This has improved and changed how TECs provide services to Tribes, including the use of cloud-based tools and decisions about the use of artificial intelligence (AI). One priority for NWTEC in modernization was to ensure we followed our member Tribes’ lead in developing a strategy and policy. At NW Tribes’ direction, we are building infrastructure to benefit Tribes, including: the update of our data governance policies and data sharing agreements to better align with Tribal sovereignty, the services we provide, and to adapt to each Tribe’s needs; on-demand Tribal access to area-level data through a cloud-based tool called the NW Tribal Data Hub; and pausing the use of AI at the direction of our Tribal partners.
AI is the next challenge or opportunity for tribal data sovereignty. While AI could increase capacity for Tribes to provide healthcare, economic stability, and governance, without appropriate oversight, data use policies could impact Tribes’ data sovereignty and environmental resources. Each Tribe will need to make decisions about how or whether to contribute data to AI training models. Lack of contribution could lead to erasure, underrepresentation, and even misrepresentation in AI systems; however, contribution to the data sets could lead to exploitation, surveillance, and ownership issues. Tribes have an opportunity to gain control over their data through the Tribal development of AI systems; however, Tribes will have important decisions to make about how they want to protect sovereignty and benefit from emerging technology. TECs play a role in providing technical assistance to Tribes as they navigate the impacts of AI in their communities.
Dr. Victoria Warren-Mears holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in home economics from Washington State University and a doctorate in nutrition sciences from the University of Washington. She also completed a certificate of investigation in human subjects at Oregon Health & Science University. For the last 19 1/2 years she has had the honor and privilege of serving the 43 federally recognized tribes of Idaho, Oregon and Washington as the Director of the Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center. Victoria has worked in Public Health for most of her career. She is passionate about the ethics of tribal data sovereignty, tribal public health systems, and providing support to tribes in public health practice and research, particularly community-based participatory research.
The event was planned by ANTHC internal staff and expert advisory panel made up of Tribal and Tribal Organization leaders from across Alaska. The agenda included the following:
In addition to the interactive content above, the meeting was opened by ANTHC President and CEO, Natasha Singh, and visited by US Senator Lisa Murkowski, who expressed their support and appreciation for the hard work of Tribal Public Health leaders in Alaska.
The planning team of Epidemiology Center staff is proud to share that the summit goal of bringing together Tribal leaders and staff from across the state to collaborate and find solutions was met. They look forward to sharing the results of the interactive content once it is summarized and next steps in continuing the conversation around Tribal public health.
If you have questions or comments for the planning team, please email tribalpublichealthsummit@anthc.org.
ANTHC Leadership with ANEC Tribal Public Health Summit Planning Team. Left to right: Diana Velez, MBA – Public Health Specialist II, Carla Britton PhD, MS – Lead Epidemiologist, Maria Caruso, MA, CPH – Program Manager TECPHI, Natasha Singh – President/CEO, Weather Potdevin – Chief Executive of CHS and THO relations, LaRita Laktonen-Ward, MPH, CPH, PMP – ANEC Director, Lowrie Ward, MPH, CPH, PMP – Senior Epidemiologist, Marie Jackman, MPA, CPH – Program Manager III TECPHI
Tribal Public Health Summit attendee Wilson Justin, Mt. Sanford Tribal Consortium.
Tribal Public Health Summit display.
