UM Directory

Damian Chase-Begay, PhD, MS is an associate professor of public & Indigenous health in the University of Montana (UMT) School of Public and Community Health (SPCH). He is Mandan and Arikara, and his family hails from the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Dr. Chase-Begay has spent more than 25 years working in Tribal, Urban Indian, local public health, and national Indigenous health settings, including serving as Executive Director of the National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH), Executive Director of All Nations Health Center in Missoula, and as a local public health officer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

His research focuses on Indigenous implementation science, implementation resilience, Indigenous research methodologies, traditional healing systems, and health policy innovation. He currently leads a NIDA-funded K01 examining the implementation of Indigenous healing-centered substance use prevention interventions across Urban Indian healthcare settings in Montana and also works with Tribal Nations and Urban Indian Organizations to explore pathways for financing traditional health practices through Medicaid policy. His work seeks to advance implementation science by centering Indigenous knowledge systems, sovereignty, and community-defined wellness. He also has a Robert Wood Johson Foundation (RWJF) Health Equity Scholar for Action (HES4A) award to explore the scope, application, and structure of Indigenous research methodologies in Western health research settings.

Dr. Chase-Begay received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Sociology and a Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Montana, where his doctoral research focused on the protective role of Indigenous traditional ceremonial practices in an urban, multi-tribal community. He also holds a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Healthcare Administration and Interprofessional Leadership from the University of California, San Francisco.

PERSONAL NOTE: Prior publications before May 2023 appear under the name D'Shane Barnett. Following completion of my PhD, I was honored by an elder in my family with the Chase name, my grandmother's family name, in recognition of this accomplishment and to carry the name forward. I also adopted McCrackin, a maternal family name from my father's side of the family, and hyphenated my surname with my husband's family name (Begay). Current scholarly work is published under the name Damian M. Chase-Begay.

Education

PhD, Public Health, University of Montana

MS, Healthcare Administration and Interprofessional Leadership, University of California-San Francisco

BA, Sociology: Inequality and Social Justice, University of Montana

Current Position

Associate Professor

Courses Taught

PUBH 591/691: ST: Social Epidemiology

PUBH 491: ST: Academic Health Department

Research Interests

• Indigenous Health
• Indigenous Research Methodologies
• Social Epidemiology
• Implementation Science
• Substance Abuse
• Chronic Illness

Projects

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): 2024-2029 Helping End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative career development award in implementation science. Culturally adapt and then test an evidence-based substance abuse prevention intervention via a type 2 hybrid implementation-effectiveness clinical trial with urban Indigenous young adults (18-29) in Montana.
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: 2024-2026 Health Equity Scholar for Action. Conduct a sequential, mixed-methods study exploring the scope, application, and structure of Indigenous Research Methodologies in Western health research settings.

Publications

Refereed Publications

Chase-Begay, DM, Cahoon J, Peterson JC, Belcourt A, Noonan C, Assessing American Indian Traditional Ceremonial Practices and Substance Use Behaviors in an Urban, Multi-tribal Setting: Results from a Community Survey. Am Indian Alsk Native Ment Health Res. 2026; 32(4): 57-82. https://doi.org/10.5820/aian.3204.2026.57.

Roth I, Chase-Begay DM, Behm V, Harris Z, Tomczak P, Owen-Smith A, La Monica M, Corbett A, Kizhakkeveettil A. A Call to Protect the Nation's Investment in Integrative, Complementary, and Traditional Health Practice Research. Glob Adv Integr Med Health. 2025; 14: 27536130251384296. https://doi.org/10.1177/27536130251384296.

Chase-Begay, DM. Expanding the Reach of Opioid Agonist Therapy—Lessons for Indigenous Communities. JAMA Netw Open. Jul 2025; 8(7): e2521434. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.21434.

Tsosie RL, Grant AD, Harrington J, Wu K, Chase S, Thomas A, Chase-Begay DM, Hill S, Belcourt A, Plenty Sweetgrass R. A Growing Willow: The Six Rs Indigenous Research Framework - Stories of the Native American Faculty Journey in STEM. Rural Sociol. 2024; 89(S1): 620-37. https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12576.

Chase-Begay DM, Adam CE, Williams E, Semmens E. Association between Caregiver-perceived Health Care Provider Cultural Sensitivity and Child Health Status in the National Survey of Children’s Health: 2016–2020. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2024; 35(3): 951-61.  https://doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2024.a934308.

Chase-Begay DM, Peterson J, Liddell J, Belcourt A. Traditional ceremonial practices as a strategy to reduce problem substance use in American Indian communities: A systematic review. J Integr Complement Med. 2023; 29(6-7): 408-19. http://doi.org/10.1089/jicm.2022.0655. 

Tsosie RL, Grant AD, Harrington J, Wu K, Thomas A, Chase S, Barnett D, Beaumont Hill S, Belcourt A, Brown BD, Plenty Sweetgrass-She Kills R. The Six Rs of Indigenous Research. Tribal coll. 2022; 33(4). https://tribalcollegejournal.org/the-six-rs-of-indigenous-research/.

Other Publications, Works in Progress

Belcourt A, Chase-Begay DM, Liddell J. Indigenous Research Methodology: A Journey of Resilience. In: Winter VR, Daniel CA, Walls NE, Spencer M, eds. Decolonizing Quantitative Methods: Anti-Oppressive Approaches to Social Work Research. Cambridge University Press; Accepted for Publication (May 2025).

Barsky CS, McKeague LK, Emidy MB, Walters M, Beck A, Chase-Begay, DM. Public Health Implications of 911 Calls During Heat and Smoke Events. Natural Hazards Center Public Health Disaster Research Report Series, Report 42. 2024. Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado Boulder. https://hazards.colorado.edu/public-health-disaster-research/public-health-implications-of-911-calls-during-heat-and-smoke-events.

Dissertation

Barnett D. American Indian traditional ceremonial practices: Addressing problem substance use in a multi-tribal urban community. Dissertation. University of Montana ProQuest Dissertations (Publication No. 2684617732); 2022. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/american-indian-traditional-ceremonial-practices/docview/2684617732/se-2. 

Affiliations

American Public Health Association

• Chair-elect, 2024-2025, Integrative, Complimentary, and Traditional Health Practices (ICTHP) Section
• Section Councilor, 2022-2024, ICTHP Section
• Member in Good Standing, 2017-

Montana Public Health Association

• Board Member/Tribal Liaison, 2024-2025
• Member in Good Standing, 2017-

Confluence Public Health Alliance

• Vice President, 2024-2025
• Board Member, 2023-2025

Native Research Network

• Chair-elect, 2026-
• Member in Good Standing, 2017-

Honors / Awards

• APHA ICTHP Section Emerging Leader Award (2023)
• Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society (2022)
• SPCHS Ellen Leahy Public Health Leadership Award (2022)
• Alpha Kappa Delta International Sociological Honor Society (2015)
• Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society (2015)