University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹ nursing faculty member Cynthia Taylor Greywolf has been honored by the Western Institute of Nursing (WIN) with the 2026 Ann M. Voda American Indian/Alaska Native/First Nation Conference Award for her significant contributions to Indigenous health research.
This award supports Indigenous nurses, students and researchers attending WIN‘s annual Communicating Nursing Research Conference, aiming to increase visibility and representation within academia.
“For me, the award is not only an individual honor,” said Greywolf, assistant professor at the . “It affirms the importance of Indigenous-led nursing research and scholarship that is grounded in community, sovereignty and cultural accountability.”
Indigenous health and healing
Greywolf, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, focuses her research on Indigenous health, historical and intergenerational trauma, alcohol use, mental health disparities and culturally grounded healing approaches. At the conference, she presented the poster, “Weaponized Spirits: Alcohol as a Colonial Legacy and Its Impact on Trauma and Relational, Structural, and Epistemic Harms in a Rural Native Hawaiian Community.”
At UH Manoa, Greywolf plans to continue strengthening Indigenous health research, mentoring students, and building partnerships that support Native Hawaiian and American Indian communities. Her work uses storytelling methods and historical trauma frameworks to inform early intervention efforts.
Indigenous nurse scientists remain underrepresented in research. Currently, there are only about 25 federally recognized tribal citizens with PhDs in nursing nationwide.
“For Cherokee people and other citizens of federally recognized tribes, citizenship is a political and legal relationship with a sovereign Tribal Nation,” Greywolf said. “My Cherokee citizenship is part of who I am, where I come from, and how I understand my responsibilities as a nurse scientist.”
.