The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center (HSLIC) is pleased to present the inaugural winner of the Patricia V. Bradley Native American Health Research Award to Taylor Russell, a third-year student at the UNM School of Medicine.
“I feel very privileged and honored to earn this award,” Russell said. “Being the first to receive this award is truly meaningful. I’m thankful that I was able to show that I can do good with the award.”
Taylor Russell, inaugural winner of the Patricia V. Bradley Native American Health Research Award
Russell is Tachii’nii (Red Running into the Water Clan), born for Bit’ahnii (Folded Arms Clan) and grew up in the Nenahnezad Chapter community. She has a strong passion for researching traditional medical practices used by Navajo Nation elders, she said.
“I recently started researching traditional and herbal medicine, but my family has a long history of using herbal medicine,” Russell said. “On my mother’s side, her grandparents were herbalists. I always heard stories about how people, even from neighboring states would travel to see them. Stories like that helped motivate me to go to medical school.”
Russell said her interest deepened after experiencing the healing effects of piñon sap on psoriasis while doing summer clinical work with the Indian Health Service. While she initially found online resources describing the healing properties of piñon sap (“jeeh”), she soon discovered an even more valuable source for her research- her grandmother, who shared her knowledge about piñon sap and its traditional use on cuts and lesions.
“When we would go out to the mountains, my grandma would point out plants and say, ‘Oh, this stuff is really good,’ and pull some from the plant telling us the name in Navajo and what it could be used for,” Russell explained. “I had never really used it, but when this came up in clinic, I was like, ‘Oh! I’ve heard of that!’”
Russell said she set her sights on creating an archive centered around traditional Navajo healing practices and plant-based remedies. She continues to learn from her grandmother and from Native authors, working diligently to document plant-based remedies with, photos, descriptions, preparations, and uses for specific conditions.
Russell also had the opportunity to attend herbal medicine conferences, seminars, and chapter houses throughout the Navajo Nation. She said the Patricia V. Bradley Award will support her ongoing research and help her share the valuable knowledge she’s gathered with more practitioners and patients.
“The conference really opened my eyes to herbalism, and I wanted to learn more,” she said. “At the time, we were learning about cancer treatment. The side effects and the treatments seemed so unbalanced to me. These two studies intersecting made me think, ‘there has to be a better way to help people.’ So, I started to ask my family more questions. I wanted to find a balance.”
About Patricia V. Bradley
The Patricia V. Bradley Native American Health Research Award is funded by an endowment established in memory of its namesake. Patricia V. Bradley’s, whose impactful 40-year career in library work left a lasting legacy. She was born into the Bit’ahnii (Folded Arms People Clan), born for Kinyaa’áanii (Towering House Clan) and dedicated her career to serving the Navajo Nation and communities throughout the Southwest. Following Bradley’s passing in 2019, the Patricia V. Bradley Award ensures her legacy and work to improve Native American health research lives on.
To learn more about the award or to donate to the fund, please visit the UNM Foundation’s giving page.
link