Team
Hannah Kelley
Project Lead: Navajo Nation
Hannah's research addresses social determinants of health through social and environmental justice driven approaches particularly within Indigenous and linguistic minorities in the United States. Since 2019, she has served as a Research Assistant at the Bill Lane Center for the American West, addressing telehealth access on American Indian/Alaskan Native land and public health initiatives in the Navajo Nation during COVID-19. Throughout her time with the BLC Hannah has cultivated an interest in the digital divide, critical infrastructure, and health impacts of colonization on Native lands and peoples.
Hannah grew up in Portland, Oregon, exploring areas of medical research, public policy, community development, and social justice. Now at Stanford, she studies Linguistics and Public Policy with a Health Policy concentration, in addition to minoring in Middle Eastern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures in the Arabic track. At Stanford, Hannah serves as the Co-President of the student-led organization, Habla, teaching English to Stanford custodial employees. Hannah also serves in Stanford Health Advocacy and Research, Stanford Women in Politics, and Students for Environmental and Racial Justice.
Aja Two Crows
Project Lead: Seattle
In summer 2019, Aja had the opportunity to work at the Chief Seattle Club, a day center for Native people in the city, many of whom are houseless and experiencing substance addiction. When the pandemic started, she wondered what was happening to all of those people and that's the project she pitched to the BLC.
Through Portraits of a Pandemic, Aja follows her work and community at the Chief Seattle Club to explore the personal innovation it takes to emotionally get through the pandemic and how innovation in our government sector can help Natives through similar challenges.
Aja has worked with the BLC for since 2018 researching cultural tension and sustainable economic development. She's worked for the Native American Cultural Center, the Stanford American Indian Organization, and the Stanford Powwow Associated on numerous projects, in addition to creating partnerships with SHARE and the Stanford Womxn’s Coalition to raise awareness about racism and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
Aja is a senior at Stanford studying Political Science and Creative Writing. Her studies have focused on political philosophy, development in marginalized communities, and contemporary ethnography.
Sophia Boyd-Fliegel
Development, Production, and Strategy
Sophia has been a podcast geek since her single digits in Seattle. She started writing and producing podcasts once at Stanford. Through the Bill Lane Center, Sophia has studied systems of issues in the American West, specifically socio-ecological health and land management. She first explored public land management through the BLC's Sophomore College, later interning at the Deschutes Land Trust in Bend, Oregon. During her senior summer, she researched California's coronavirus public health response through the Lane Center and the Center for Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law.
At Stanford, Sophia has been part of research teams for the Social Ecology Lab and the Environmental Decision-Making and Neuroscience Lab. She is also a captain for the Women's Rowing Team. As an English and Human Biology double major, Sophia centers her studies on what it means to be human.