Delight E. Satter, MPH

Associate Director for Tribal Support

 

Since December 4, 2011, Delight E. Satter, MPH, has served as associate director for tribal support in CDC's Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support. Satter’s primary job functions include coordinating CDC programs and policies that benefit or affect American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations, serving as the principal advisor and main liaison with policy-level officials, and acting as CDC's principal contact for all AI/AN public health activities.

Satter has worked on numerous research, programmatic, and policy efforts from a local, state, and national perspective. Prior to joining CDC, she directed the American Indian Research Program, which she founded in 1998 at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (the Center), one of the nation's preeminent policy research centers. Her work at the Center focused on Native cancer, tobacco prevention, and policy opportunities for tribes; an epidemiologic profile of Native elders; evaluation of a Native infant health program targeting at-risk pregnancies and children; and evaluation and technical assistance on youth mental healthcare access. She also served as a key staff member on the development of the California Health Interview Survey.

Satter's public service activities have been extensive. She served as a board member for the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network and Native American Cancer Research; served on the inaugural U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Minority Health; was a founding member of the Native Research Network Board of Directors and the CDC American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Coalition; and is past-president of the American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Caucus of the American Public Health Association.

Prior to joining the Center, Satter was a Public Health Prevention Service fellow with CDC. She was also a Morris K. Udall American Indian Congressional Intern to the Honorable Bruce F. Vento (dec.), and an intern at the Minnesota Department of Public Health. Prior to entering public health, she worked for 15 years in multiple sectors.

Satter received her master's degree in public health from the University of Minnesota and bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of Washington. She is a tribal member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Oregon.