Tara Maudrie 

Tara Maudrie, PhD, MSPH, is an enrolled citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians (Snapping Turtle Clan) and a health researcher specializing in Indigenous food systems, nutrition, and holistic wellbeing. In addition to leading the Native Nourishment Research Team, Dr. Maudrie is a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, where her research centers community-engaged, strengths-based approaches to nourishment, food sovereignty, and chronic disease prevention in Indigenous communities.

Throughout her career, Tara has had the privilege of partnering with both urban and Tribal communities across Turtle Island to co-develop research that honors Indigenous knowledge systems and community priorities. Her scholarship is deeply informed by her family’s history of commercial fishing, and she continues these food sovereignty traditions through her own hunting, fishing, and foraging practices.

Tara earned her PhD in the Social and Behavioral Interventions Program at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Fall 2024 and her MSPH in Human Nutrition in May 2021. Prior to this, she completed her Bachelor’s of Science in Pre-Health Professional Studies from the Oakland University Honors College.