Patient Advisory Committee Spotlight: Alma McCormick

The Building Trust Learning Network has assembled a distinguished group of patient advocates, patients, caregivers and researchers on patient engagement to advise about how best to continue educating and engaging patients, caregivers and the general public about trust in healthcare. Over the coming months, we will be highlighting some of our members describing their experiences with trust in healthcare.

Alma McCormick is a member of the Crow Nation and the Executive Director of Messengers for Health, a Crow Indian 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization located on the Crow reservation in Montana.  Alma is a leader and a community activist for improved health and wellness amongst her people.  Her educational background is in Community Health and she furthered her education receiving a Bachelor’s of Science in Health and Wellness at the Montana State University-Billings. She has been actively involved in cancer awareness outreach and advocacy amongst Native American women in Montana since 1996. She has extensive experience in conducting community-based participatory research projects addressing various health needs of the Crow people while working in partnership with Montana State University-Bozeman. She has traveled nationwide to present at health conferences to share the program’s successes. She has also co-authored numerous peer reviewed journal articles. Alma’s passion for her work in community outreach stems from her personal experience of losing a young twin daughter to neuroblastoma cancer in 1985.