Kiana K. Wilkins is a Wasco (Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs) scholar and Ph.D. candidate in the sociology department at Rice University. Kiana’s research agenda revolves around asking questions about indigeneity, intersectionality (e.g. race, class, gender, sexuality), and how intersecting forces of power and privilege determine health, well-being, and health behaviors.

Kiana’s dissertation problematizes the federal government’s ‘promise’ of healthcare for American Indians, which lays a legal foundation to provide health services for American Indians via trust and treaty obligations, including those who live in urban areas. Using qualitative methods she draws on two research sites to understand how 'Urban Indians' navigate healthcare, one site being with treaty promised healthcare (Portland, Oregon) and the other being without treaty promised healthcare (Houston, Texas). By combining theoretical frames of TribalCrit and Intersectionality, she finds that place, identity, and policy coalesce to 1) create Urban Indians’ own unique healthcare labyrinth, and also 2) profoundly influence Urban Indian health overall. Kiana's dissertation work has been supported by the Native Forward Scholars Fund Community Impact Scholarship and Rice University's Expanding Horizon's Fellowship.

At Rice, Kiana finds joy in being an active member of the Sociologists Talking About Population Health (STAPH) working group. Kiana attended California State University Long Beach where she earned her Bachelor's in Sociology with a minor in Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her work can be found in Population Research and Policy Review, Ethnicity & Health, Journal of Marriage and Family, and Journal of Black Studies.

Correct pronouns are she/her/hers.