Marcia Anderson DeCoteau

Marcia Anderson DeCoteau

Health (2011)

The youngest Aboriginal graduate from the Facility of Medicine in Manitoba at the age of 24 Dr. Anderson DeCoteau, is the youngest president of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada (IPAC). Under her leadership the IPAC managed to secure an unprecedented budget for project funding. Her leadership spawned the development of a series of tools to be incorporated into the curriculum of medical schools across Canada. All projects had a common goal: to provide medical students with an understanding of the expansive list of barriers that prevent Aboriginal people from enjoying a good quality of life. Dr. Anderson DeCoteau helped develop a framework and resources to help students understand how Aboriginal peoples suffered and continue to suffer from effects of colonization, oppression and generations of forced dependency. She designed a research project that helped facilitate an elective and compensate the healers for the time spent teaching medical students a traditional aboriginal medical elective. She recognized the importance of Indigenous knowledge and traditional healing practices in improving patient care. She obtained a Masters of Public Health Degree at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and currently leads the Population Health Promotion Unit of the Government of Manitoba, and is the Acting Medical Lead.