Lauren W. Yowelunh McLester-Davis, PhD

Director of Indigenous Science Advocacy 920-819-6021 | lwymd@medicine.wisc.edu

Lauren W. Yowelunh McLester-Davis works with our Tribal Engagement Office. She engages youth in science education and leads capacity-building efforts to support tribal institutional review boards, data sovereignty and research engagement with Wisconsin’s tribal nations. She joins the School of Medicine and Public Health with a scientist co-appointment in the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (led by Dr. Carey Gleason) and in Dr. Judith Simcox’s lab in the Department of Biochemistry. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), as well as chairs the SACNAS Native American/Indigenous Affairs Committee. McLester-Davis is an enrolled member of the Oneida Nation. She received her PhD from Tulane University, where she specialized in neuroscience and community-based participatory research with an emphasis on working for sovereign nations.