Dr. Roubideaux is the first American Indian woman to head the Indian Health Service since it was founded in 1955. She served most recently as an assistant professor in the department of family & community medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and was also an assistant professor at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Dr. Roubideaux's work includes teaching, research, and program development in the areas of diabetes in American Indians and Indian health policy. She has worked in a leadership capacity on numerous national committees and projects related to diabetes, and is currently Co-Director of the Coordinating Center for the Special Diabetes Program for Indians Competitive Grant Program Demonstration Project, which is a congressionally-funded diabetes and cardiovascular disease prevention project in 66 Indian health sites across the country. She recruits American Indian students into the health professions as the Director of the University of Arizona/Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (UA/ITCA) Indians Into Medicine Program and the Director of the UA/ITCA American Indian Research Center for Health Training Program. She was President of the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP), a past member of the Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Minority Health, and was named the 2004 AAIP Indian Physician of the Year. In 2001, Dr. Roubideaux co-edited the book "Promises to Keep: Public Health Policy for American Indians and Alaska Natives in the 21st Century."
Dr. Roubideaux, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe, received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1989, and completed a residency program in Primary Care Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA, in 1992. She completed her M.P.H. at the Harvard School of Public Health as a CFHU Fellow in 1997.
Publications: Roubideaux Y, Buchwald D, Beals J, Middlebrook D, Manson S, Muneta B, Rith-Najarian S, Shields R, Acton K. Measuring the Quality of Diabetes Care for American Indian Elders. American Journal of Public Health 2004; 94:60–65. Haley J, Zuckerman S, Roubideaux Y, Lilli-Blanton M. Healthcare Access and Utilization Among American Indians and Alaska Natives: Findings from the National Survey of America's Families. American Journal of Public Health 2004; 94:53–59. Moss MP, Roubideaux Y, Jacobsen C, Buchwald D, Manson S. Functional Disability and Associated Factors Among Older Zuni Indians. J Cross Cult Gerontol 2004;19:1–12. Rhoades, D, Roubideaux Y, Buchwald D. Diabetes Care Among Older, "Urban American Indians and Alaska Natives." Ethnicity and Disease, Fall 2004 Roubideaux Y. A Review of the Quality of Healthcare for American Indians and Alaska Natives. The Commonwealth Fund, New York, NY, 2004. Roubideaux Y., D. Buchwald, J. Beals, D. Middlebrook, S. Manson, B. Muneta, S. Rith-Najarian, R. Shields, and K. Acton. "Measuring the Quality of Diabetes Care for Older American Indians and Alaska Natives." American Journal of Public Health. 2004 94 (1). Stephen Zuckerman, PhD, Jennifer Haley, MA, Yvette Roubideaux, MD, MPH, and Marsha Lillie-Blanton, DrPH. "Health Service Access, Use, and Insurance Coverage Among American Indians/Alaska Natives and Whites: What Role Does the Indian Health Service Play?" American Journal of Public Health. January 2004, Vol 94, No.1. Roubideaux, Y. "Perspectives on American Indian Health." American Journal of Public Health. 92:1401–3, September 2002. Roubideaux Y. "Current Issues in Health Disparities Common in American Indian Communities." Chapter in: Measuring Diabetes Care. Improving Data Quality and Data Use in American Indian Communities. Conference Proceedings, Seattle WA, August 20–22, 2002, Indian Health Service National Diabetes Program. Roubideaux Y. "Current Issues in Indian Health Policy: Update 2002." Background Paper for Conference "Native American Health and Welfare Policy in an Age of New Federalism. Morris K. Udall Foundation, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona, 2002. Dixon M, Roubideaux Y, eds. Promises to Keep: Public Health Policy for American Indians and Alaska Natives in the 21st Century. American Public Health Association, October 2001. Roubideaux Y, Moore K, Avery C, Muneta B, Knight M, Buchwald D. "Developing Diabetes Education Materials: Recommendations of Tribal Leaders, Indian Health Professionals, and American Indian Community Members." The Diabetes Educator. 26:290–294. March/April 2000. Roubideaux Y. "Native American Health Challenges." Arizona Prevention Center Newsletter. August 1999. Roubideaux Y. "Cross-cultural Aspects of Mental Health and Culture-Bound Illnesses." Primary Care of Native American Patients: Diagnosis, Therapy, and Epidemiology, edited by JM Galloway, BW Goldberg, and JS Alpert, Butterworth Heinemann, 1999. Galloway J, Roubideaux Y, et al. "The Center for Native American Health: a Unique Collaboration in Indian Health." The IHS Primary Care Provider. 24(10). October 1999.E-mail: Yvette Roubideaux