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null Ben Geboe awarded the 2021-2022 Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship for his research with urban Indigenous populations

The RI-MUHC postdoc is working on a culturally safe framework for TB prevention and care for Indigenous populations in Montreal

Source: McGill University Health Centre Foundation and Meakins Christie Laboratories. Ben Geboe, LMSW, PhD, is an Indigenous postdoctoral fellow in the Translational Research in Respiratory Diseases Program at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and the 2021-2022 recipient of the Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellowship in Respiratory Research.

Postdoctoral fellow Ben Geboe (left) and the late Dr. Margaret Becklake
Postdoctoral fellow Ben Geboe (left) and the late Dr. Margaret Becklake

Ben Geboe, tiospaye wakankdiduta (family unit Red Lightning) is an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, which has affiliations in the Dakota First Nations of Manitoba. Ben worked with Dr. Nicole Ives at the McGill School of Social Work to complete his PhD, conducting a qualitative research project interviewing Indigenous healthcare providers (RNs and MDs) across Canada using Indigenous research methodologies and constructivist grounded theory.

Ben is a member of Indigenous Access McGill (IAM) at the School of Social Work, Stop TB Canada Network and the International Indigenous Peoples’ Working Group on HIV and AIDS (IIGWHA). Ben will be working as a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Faiz Ahmad Khan. Ben has many years of experience working with Indigenous community organizations in rural and urban settings in Canada and the United States, focusing on identifying barriers to Indigenous health services and advocates for Indigenous participation in all levels of healthcare services. Ben, like many community healthcare workers helping Indigenous peoples and refugees, was exposed to TB (ppd+) and underwent prophylaxis.

Ben participates in many Indigenous spiritual and cultural activities including drumming, and recently organized a drumming observance of mourning in Montreal at Jeanne Mance Park in response to the announcement of the 215 children found in a mass grave at the Residential school in Kamloops, BC. Ben published two policy briefs for the McGill Institute for the Study of International Development focusing on Indigenous reconciliation and community development.

Ben is honoured to join Dr. Faiz Ahmad Khan and the RI-MUHC. As a Becklake Fellow, he will be leading work to understand how TB prevention and care can be delivered in a culturally safe framework for urban Indigenous populations in Montreal. He will also be contributing to CIHR-funded work to incorporate Indigenous educational approaches in the development of training programs for tuberculosis for community health workers.

October 16, 2021

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About the Margaret R. Becklake Fellowship in Respiratory Research. Meakins-Christie Laboratories

Meet Dr. Ben Geboe, the new Dr. Margaret Becklake Fellow. MUHC Foundation