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Developed and implemented by public health experts with extensive experience of working with indigenous populations locally and globally, the objective of the Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Health is to equip health professionals with skills and competencies that are necessary to engage in evidence-based public health practice at the leadership, management, and supervisory levels.

Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them.[1]

There are approximately 300–500 million people across the globe who are variously identified as Indigenous, including about 5000 distinct groups in more than 70 countries.[2] Indigenous health examines health and wellbeing of Indigenous Peoples with emphasis on indigenous models and frameworks that are rooted in culture, language, identity, place, and community history. Indigenous communities in the United States and globally have disproportionately worse health outcomes than the general population. Resource constraints and the continual evolution of public health threats compound existing health inequity for these communities and raise constant challenges to public health personnel. In spite of these unique challenges, there are few public health training programs that are specifically designed to increase the capacity of current and future public health workforce for indigenous communities.

Arizona's first and only accredited college of public health, the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health is uniquely situated in the culturally rich and diverse Southwest. Distinguished for our outstanding community-based research and for our focus on eliminating health disparities among populations of the Southwest and globally, the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health offers tremendous opportunities to its students for education, research and community involvement.

The College of Public Health's interdisciplinary activities are enhanced by being part of the Arizona Health Sciences Center with campuses in Tucson and Phoenix. The College consistently ranks among the top five in American Indian and Hispanic graduates and students enrolled among accredited schools of public health, according to recent data from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health. In addition, the University of Arizona is one of only 62 members in the Association of American Universities, a prestigious organization that recognizes universities that have developed exceptionally strong overall research and academic programs.