Tom Tipps just finished his MD program at Duke and his JD at Yale. He has started his residency in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation with a focus in Sports/Pain Medicine at UPMC in Pittsburgh.

Prior to Yale, Tom was working with Johns Hopkins University as a research assistant, where he helped with two projects: the first was a study of the TaqI restriction enzyme at the Center for Bariatric Surgery. The second was at the Center for American Indian Health, where he worked with the White Mountain Apache in Arizona to develop and evaluate one part of a three-pronged program to combat youth suicide on their reservation.

A 2014 Mitchell Scholar, Tom studied Public Law at National University Ireland Galway. While his degree from NUIG focused on public law, his professors let him tailor a lot of his writings to Native welfare and sovereignty policy, which really opened his eyes to a lot of the difficulties IHS-dependent tribes face. It basically catalyzed his current shift from tribal law to tribal healthcare, as he thinks it’s an area where he can make a more immediate, tangible impact.

Tom obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma.