Dr. Nicole Stern is a citizen of the Mescalero Apache Tribe of New Mexico. She is the first member of her tribe to become a physician. She earned her medical degree, and completed a residency in Internal Medicine, at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson. She was a fellow in Primary Care Sports Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, and has a master’s in public health degree in Health Management from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She was a Commonwealth Fund Fellow in Minority Health Policy at Harvard Medical School and her practicum project focused on American Indian physician workforce development.

Currently, Dr. Stern is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Education at the California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM), while working part-time as an urgent care physician. She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, and has extensive experience with the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP), having served as President-Elect, President, Immediate Past President, and a two-time At-Large-Director of the Board of Directors. As a recent liaison from AAIP to the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) Committee on Student Diversity Affairs, Dr. Stern continues to serve on national committees with the AAMC and other national organizations, to collaborate on strategic plans and initiatives that emphasize the importance of including American Indians and Alaska Natives within the national conversation around health care workforce development and medical school diversity.