A Lawrence doctor has been named physician of the year by the Association of American Indian Physicians, a nonprofit founded in 1971 to improve the health of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Dee Ann DeRoin

Dee Ann DeRoin works primarily in the areas of diabetes, cancer, women’s health and cultural competence. Since 2001, she has been a consultant in community health to states, tribes and American Indian organizations such as the National Indian Women’s Health Resource Center and Native American Cancer Research.

“This award is special to me because it comes from colleagues whose careers I’ve watched and whose commitment to native health has been inspirational to me,” DeRoin said. “That being said, the work itself is rewarding. The relationships one experiences in the practice of family medicine are very meaningful. But if I were only practicing medicine, I would rarely or never have had the opportunity to work in communities throughout ‘Indian country,’ as we say. It is such a pleasure to work with different tribes, in their homelands, as they seek solutions to their many health disparities.”

A member of the Ioway Tribe of Kansas, DeRoin has more than two decades of experience in family medicine and currently provides care on the Kickapoo Reservation in northeast Kansas. She also works with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to improve cancer data information flow between the Kansas Cancer Registry and the four reservation tribes of Kansas.