Satellite Symposium

Since 2011, she has served as a Senior Nurse Midwife at Southcentral Foundation, a Tribal Health Organization in Anchorage, Alaska, where she coordinates multidisciplinary care for pregnant families from all areas of Alaska. She has participated in statewide initiatives involving contraception, addiction medicine in pregnancy, and cervical cancer prevention.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins University (BSN) and Yale University School of Nursing (MSN), Bethany also holds a Certificate of Public Health Practice from the University of Washington. Her clinical background includes working within Indigenous communities at the Indian Health Service medical centers in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and Gallup, New Mexico. Currently, she provides itinerant midwifery services at the Maniilaq Health Center in Kotzebue, supporting remote Iñupiaq communities.

Bethany is a recognized leader in Women’s Health, particularly in the elimination of cervical cancer efforts. She is a Steering Committee member of the American Cancer Society’s National Roundtable on Cervical Cancer and has been instrumental in implementing Primary HPV screening and HPV self-collection at the Alaska Native Medical Center. Her advocacy has earned her the 2025 Indian Health Service Director’s Award and the 2024 Celebrating Nurses Award in Anchorage. Outside of her clinical work, Bethany is an avid explorer of the Alaskan wilderness, enjoying hiking, sailing, and berry harvesting with her family.

Since 2006, Dr. Tiesinga has served as the Laboratory Medical Director for the Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC) and the Chief Oversight Pathologist for the Alaska Tribal Health System. In these roles, he provides clinical leadership and diagnostic expertise across a vast network of tribal health facilities, spanning from Anchorage to the Arctic Circle.

A graduate of Columbia University and The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Dr. Tiesinga completed his residency in Anatomic Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Harvard University’s Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a fellowship in Hematology at New York University. To complement his clinical expertise, he later earned an M.S. in Health Care Management from Harvard University.

Dr. Tiesinga is a recognized advocate for cultural competence in medicine. He was the founder and first chair of the National Laboratory Professionals Council for the Indian Health Service and currently serves on the College of American Pathologists’ DEIA Committee. His work has been instrumental in launching critical in-state services, such as Alaska’s first laboratory for Primary HPV cervical cancer screening.