Native American Public Health Policy Expert Joins March Of Dimes National Board Of Trustees

WHITE PLAINS, New York, Dec. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- Donald K. Warne, M.D., MPH, Chair of the Department of Public Health at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND, and a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe, has been elected to the March of Dimes National Board of Trustees, it was announced today.

March of Dimes Trustees are volunteers who provide strategic direction and governance to the organization. 

"Dr. Warne brings the March of Dimes his expertise in Native American public health issues and primary care medicine," says Gary Dixon, chairman of the Board.  "Our 2016 Premature Birth Report Card shows that rates of preterm birth, the #1 killer of babies, are nearly 15 percent higher among American Indian/Alaska Native women in the United States. We're thankful to have Dr. Warne's help as we strive to give every baby a fair chance to be born full-term and healthy."

Dr. Warne comes from a long line of traditional healers and medicine men. He serves as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Health Board, and is Adjunct Professor at Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, where he teaches American Indian Health Policy. He worked for several years as a primary care and integrative medicine physician with the Gila River Health Care Corporation in Sacaton, Arizona, and for three years as a staff clinician with the National Institutes of Health in Phoenix.  Dr. Warne has served on many other national boards, and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including most recently being named to the Mary J. Berg Distinguished Professorship of Women's Health at NDSU.

Dr. Warne received his M.D. from Stanford University and his master's degree in public health from Harvard University as a Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellow in Minority Public Health. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Family Practice and the American Board of Medical Acupuncture.  

He resides in Fargo, ND, with his wife Maylynn and their four children.

The March of Dimes is the leading nonprofit organization for pregnancy and baby health. For more than 75 years, moms and babies have benefited from March of Dimes research, education, vaccines and breakthroughs. For the latest resources and health information, visit our websites marchofdimes.org and nacersano.org. For detailed national, state and local perinatal statistics, visit persistats.org. You can also find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

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