Descended from the Standing Rock Sioux, Geoffrey Roth has extensive experience with the Indian Health Service, most recently managing the Biden-Harris transition team’s review of the agency. He has more than 20 years of public affairs experience. He’s a consultant on minority rights, public policy and management, with long-term contracts with two urban Indian health programs in the Northwest.
He was educated at the University of Oregon, and he worked in Salem and Portland before moving to Washington, D.C., in 2002.
As chairman of the Coquille Indian Tribe since 2012, Brenda Meade leads the Tribal Council that oversees all of the tribe’s government and business activities. She is passionately engaged in state, regional and national organizations that work on Native American issues, such as Oregon’s Legislative Commission on Indian Services, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, and the National Congress of American Indians.
After winning a Bronze Star as an Army captain, Ben Olmedo earned a Master of Medical Science degree from Yale School of Medicine’s Physician Associate Program. His subsequent work at three Native health clinics gave him in-depth knowledge about urgent care and same-day primary care. He currently works as a family medicine physician assistant at Dignity Healthcare in Lompoc, Calif.
As chief operating officer of the Kewa Pueblo Health Corp., Dave Panana oversaw a facility expansion from 20,000 square feet to 57,000 square feet. Since 2014, the number of employees has tripled, and the number of health-care providers has grown eightfold.
Panana is an enrolled member of the Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico. He has a Bachelor of Science in nursing and has worked as a telemetry nurse and nurse manager.