Teshia Solomon appointed to NIH advisory committee

Teshia G. Arambula Solomon, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, was appointed to the National Institutes of Health Advisory Committee to the Director. 

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“I am grateful for this opportunity and look forward to serving. It is an incredible honor,” Solomon said. “This opportunity enables me to be a voice for the health and well-being of vulnerable people, particularly Native Americans.” 

Solomon attributed her selection to her career of service with the NIH and partnering with the community in research. 

“In order to address the systemic bias that exists in health and health care, it’s important to work both at the community level and within federal and state institutions to make recommendations that support the disenfranchised,” she said.       

The advisory committee, or ACD, is chaired by the NIH director and consists of up to 20 members with expertise in research pertinent to the NIH mission; individuals representing the academic and private-sector research community; and the general public. The ACD makes recommendations concerning program development; resource allocation; NIH administrative regulations and policy;, and other specific or general aspects of NIH policy. The ACD also reviews and makes recommendations on applications for grants and cooperative agreements for research and training for projects that show promise of making valuable contributions to human knowledge.

“The Department of Family and Community Medicine is proud of the work that Dr. Solomon has done locally and nationally in the areas of health, well-being and education,” said Kristen Rundell, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine. “We are excited that her voice, passion and expertise will be able to make a greater impact through this position.” 

In 1996, Dr. Solomon received her first honor from the NIH with $5,000 to support her dissertation in American Indian women’s cancer. Since that time, she has served as technical advisor to the Tucson region of the NIH Tribal Advisory Council; as a member of the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine Roundtable for Promotion of Health Equity; the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot Initiative Blue Ribbon Panel Working Group; the DHHS Region IX Office of Minority Health Equity Council; the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Scientific Review Committee; and the DHHS Tribal Advisory Committee. 

From 2012 to 2015, she was a senior research advisor in health disparities research at the National Cancer Institute. She has been the recipient of 20 NIH funding awards. 

Solomon is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and of Mexican-American descent. In 2020, she was named a University of Arizona Distinguished Outreach Faculty. In addition to her faculty position in family medicine, Solomon serves as the director of the American Indian Research Center for Health, located within the Wassaja Carlos Montezuma Center for Native American Health, and is a research affiliate in the Southwest Institute for Research on Women.