Aleena Kawe

Red Star International - Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer

Aleena believes a systems approach to solving challenges – one that considers worldview, relationships, leadership and the collective will is the key to achieving health equity. Aleena is a leader and advocate in Indigenous health, with more than 25 years of experience working in partnership with communities to transform their aspirations into action. In 2018, she received national recognition for developing the first public health institute in the U.S. to focus solely on Indigenous wellbeing.  For the last decade, Aleena has focused on building public health capacity among Tribal and Pacific Island public health systems in the US.  More recently, her focus has shifted to the role of governance in proving the health of humanity and the environment through Indigenous guardianship and stewardship practices. Prior to Red Star, Aleena served as the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Education Director, and as the Administrator of the American Indian Research Center for Health at the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. Aleena is an enrolled member of the Texas Band of Yaqui Indians with cultural ties to Pascua Yaqui Tribe – Old Pascua Pueblo in Tucson, Arizona. She has a master’s degree in public health from The University of Arizona, where she is an adjunct faculty at the Global Health Institute