Dr. Sean Hillier
Interim Director
Dr. Sean Hillier is a Mi’kmaw scholar (member of the Qalipu First Nation). He is an associate professor and York Research Chair in Indigenous Health Policy & One Health in the Faculty of Health at York University. Sean sits on the National Interagency Panel on Research Ethics. His collaborative research program spans the topics of aging, living with HIV and other infectious diseases, and One Health – all with a concerted focus on policy affecting health care access for Indigenous Peoples. Dr. Hillier has been successful in receiving funding from each of the three federal granting agencies and is the current Inaugural Associate Director of the $318 million research project, Connected Minds: Neural and Machine Systems for a Healthy Just Society.
Dr. Dean Ray
Coordinator
Dr. Dean Ray is the new coordinator for the Centre of Indigenous Knowledges and Languages. He is a settler-scholar who works in partnership with Indigenous communities. His research focuses on building ethical relationships with Indigenous Peoples and understanding how these communities create, maintain, and grow organizations. Dean is a language learner and speaker, spending five years learning Nłeʔkepmxcín from elders in the Nicola Valley region of British Columbia. He is excited by the mission of the centre and to work with scholars here at York to further Indigenous resurgence and decolonization.
