Inspiring Grad: Macaiah Shendo, UNM College of Population Health

Macaiah Shendo, a student in The University of New Mexico College of Population Health (COPH), is pioneering a new field of brain health care for Indigenous peoples in New Mexico. But if you ask him, he's no trailblazer. He believes he's simply doing what he was raised to do: help his community.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shendo, who is from the Pueblo of Jemez, saw his community struggling and knew he had to do something to help.

He switched his educational track from mechanical and aerospace engineering to psychology, eventually landing at the COPH. In a matter of days, he will graduate with a Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in epidemiology-and he will be one step closer to becoming potentially the first-ever "Indigenous neuropsychological epidemiologist," he said.

"That's a new phrase," Shendo continued. "It's not an existing field. It's just one that has made the most sense to me in my journey working with my mentors from UNM Hospital, to our College of Population Health, to Columbia University."

In this new field, Shendo hopes to help the Pueblo of Jemez and other Indigenous peoples in New Mexico by conducting disease surveillance using neurocognitive data.

"So, using neuropsychological testing to monitor entire communities' brain health as well as their general health," he explained.

Shendo plans to track health conditions such as vascular dementia, ADHD, autism, liver dysfunction and autoimmune disorders.

"These things can pop up on testing because our brains are so connected to the rest of our bodies," he said. "Our brains rely very heavily on a lot of our bodily functions."

The key to gathering this population-wide data is neurocognitive testing, such as having a patient draw an analog clock from memory or having them recall categories of words under a time limit, Shendo says.

"A neurocognitive test assesses your level of cognitive functioning at a given point in time," he said. "That being said, like your visual-spatial reconstruction, your immediate memory, your delayed memory, delayed recall of objects, places, things."

Shendo said there is a need for this work because people in his community lack easy access to critical resources for good brain health, including nutrition, like fresh produce, education on brain health, income and everyday health care.

"It feels very much so like it's just another thing that needs to get done, and we need to do it well," Shendo said. "I'm going to focus on doing it well, getting it done and making sure that everyone who we're wanting to help does get help, because it just has to be done."

Shendo's studies in the COPH have helped him forge ahead on this new career path and have shown him that health is much bigger than just one person or place, he said.

"It allows me to think about, 'How do I help my community?'" he said. "Because I'm always thinking of my community and how I can best serve them, and how I can best be there to help them."

He said that getting support from friends, family, mentors, colleagues and others has been essential to his journey, which has often found him solving difficult problems on his own.

"Having all of that support-it makes such a huge difference, and it keeps me from burning out," Shendo said.

Especially while there is still much work for him to do.

"After graduation, I'll be pursuing a Ph.D. in Health Equity Sciences here at the College of Population Health, and I'll also be trying to work with my Tribe as their epidemiologist," he said.

And that's not all-after his Ph.D., he plans to get a Doctor of Psychology degree so he can gain the neuropsychological training that he considers crucial to his plan.

"I'm in it for the long haul," he said. "I'm trying to do it all here in New Mexico, so that I can be here for my community and can still help out at home as much as possible."