Jordyn Pourier, MPH, is a research scientist who supports research and evaluation focused on the well-being of Indigenous children, youth, and families. Jordyn is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and was born and raised on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation. Her firsthand experience of the health disparities and barriers faced by American Indians motivates her to serve her community and other American Indian communities to improve the overall health of children, youth, and families.

Jordyn is a community-based participatory researcher who has conducted research in American Indian communities for over 10 years. Her work focuses on Indigenous health, maternal and child health, and supporting Indigenous children and families by incorporating effective health policy that encompasses cultural beliefs and health equity. Jordyn’s skills and experience include project management, proposal development, qualitative and mixed methods approaches, Indigenous research methodology, survey development, primary data collection, and secondary data analysis. Jordyn’s dissertation aims to reduce infant mortality among American Indian infants through research that examines prenatal and postnatal care. As part of this work, she seeks to break down the perception that maternal and infant health involve tradeoffs, recognizing instead that each reinforces the other. Jordyn’s work also examines the complicated nature of the institutional arrangements that provide health care to American Indians, many of which differ by location; for example, while some Indian Health Service and Tribal clinics can provide care for pregnant women and infants, others cannot.

Jordyn holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Kansas Medical Center. In Fall 2023, Jordyn will complete her PhD in Health Policy and Management and is currently a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar.