Seattle Indian Health Board recognizes the legacy of Adeline Garcia (Haida, Double Fin Killer Whale Clan) — a long‑time advocate for urban Native health whose work continues through her daughter, SIHB Board member Jania Garcia. On March 27, SIHB will host the Adeline Garcia Community Service Awards, celebrating community leaders who uplift and sustain our relatives.
For Women’s History Month, Seattle Indian Health Board is celebrating our women Directors, whose daily leadership strengthens our programs, clinics, and community partnerships. This month we are highlighting four of them. Each brings distinct experience, training, cultural grounding, and a shared commitment to supporting the health and wellbeing of our relatives.
Kim Brown (Coeur d’Alene/ Navajo), SUD Program Director
As the Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Program Director, Kim Brown oversees a team that supports relatives and families through recovery. Her role includes developing a sustainable program model, ensuring staff have the tools they need, and continuously assessing whether SIHB is offering the right support to meet community needs. While these responsibilities fill much of her time, Kim emphasizes that her work remains grounded in personal connection. “Our relatives do the work — I just walk with them,” she says.
Kim’s path to this field is shaped closely by her own journey with addiction and recovery. Those lived experiences helped her understand the complexity of substance use and the courage it takes for relatives to seek care. They also strengthened her belief that every person deserves a chance to rediscover their strengths and live in a good way.
Kim learned the importance of cultural representation in health care early in her career. While working in a detox facility, she met an elder who expressed gratitude for seeing a Native provider across the table. That interaction underscored for Kim how visibility and cultural familiarity within health systems can create a greater sense of safety for Native people — and it remains a guiding point in her work today.
Teachings she associates with Grandfather Creator, along with guidance from mentors throughout her life, influence her approach to leadership. Those teachers modeled patience, accountability, and respect — qualities she works to bring forward for relatives and staff alike. Kim often reminds emerging professionals that empathy is not abstract but practical: “Put yourself in someone else’s shoes — even just for a moment.”
Through her leadership, Kim strengthens SIHB’s approach to SUD services by centering humility, cultural grounding, and the belief that recovery is possible for everyone.
Margaret Wilson (Tlingit), MS, RDN, CD, LMHC, Nutrition Program Director
Margaret Wilson leads SIHB’s nutrition programming, which spans clinical care, chronic disease management, community wellness, and culturally informed health education. Her team provides diabetes self‑management support, nutrition services for relatives in substance use recovery, Elder wellness programming, and community nutrition activities such as at SIHB’s Family Saturday events. An essential part of her job is working directly with relatives in all three SIHB clinic sites as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist.
Margaret’s early understanding of leadership came from her father, a longtime tribal leader who “taught me the value of service to the Native community,” she says. That lesson shaped the choices she made in her education and career. After earning her undergraduate degree in psychology, she worked at the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Institute. There, she learned from women who taught her that “leadership is a skill to be learned and practiced rather than a trait.”
She later earned a master’s degree in health psychology and nutrition and worked in community mental health, where a supervisor emphasized the importance of breaking down complex problems into manageable steps. This idea — “focus on the next right step” — continues to guide how Margaret approaches challenges and supports her team.
Cultural values are central to Margaret’s leadership. She draws on community responsibility and humor as grounding practices. She is also continually inspired by the resilience of relatives who seek nutrition support. “Meeting with a dietitian is an act of optimism and a belief that one’s health can be different,” she says. She approaches each encounter with respect for the strength it takes to pursue change. “Many of our relatives have survived so much, and are in the act of building better health every day,” says Margaret.
Margaret also draws inspiration from her father’s example. When he chose to pursue higher education while living in a small Alaska village, he did so despite doubts from others — and from himself. He continued anyway, eventually earning a master’s degree and an honorary doctorate. Margaret reflects on this, saying that his experience shows how capability grows through effort and persistence. “None of us really know our true capabilities,” she says. “Your people need you. There is a place for you here.”
Margaret encourages early‑career Native professionals to take opportunities even before they feel fully confident. “Sometimes you don’t need to believe you can do a thing to do it. The doing builds belief,” she says.
She also emphasizes that Indigenous leadership shapes health care by ensuring that relatives are seen as family — a core SIHB value that supports trust.
Terri Adams‑Kincaid, RPh, Pharmacy Director
Terri Adams‑Kincaid directs pharmacy operations across SIHB’s three clinics. Her responsibilities include regulatory compliance, policy development, pharmacy staffing, workflow improvements, and oversight of pharmacy student training through her work as a preceptor for University of Washington students. Her nearly 30 years of experience span community pharmacy, district‑level leadership, and health‑system pharmacy management.
Terri’s path into leadership was shaped by strong mentorship during pharmacy school and her early professional years. Advisors guided her through career decisions, helped her think strategically about opportunities, and offered context about the broader history of the pharmacy profession. During those conversations, Terri learned about “she-ro” Jessie Senora Sims Walker, who in 1913 was the first African‑American to graduate from Washington State University, and who graduated in Pharmacy. “I learned whose shoulders I was standing on,” says Terri. Many years later, Terri became WSU’s second Black woman to graduate in Pharmacy.
Her leadership style has evolved over years spent managing complex workflows and supporting diverse teams. Terri explains that maintaining perspective has been one of her most valuable tools. Rather than focusing on the challenges of a single moment, she looks at the full picture of what her team accomplishes. “Sometimes something will not go as planned, but I focus on and celebrate the good instead,” she says. This mindset supports a steady, collaborative environment across pharmacy operations. Terri encourages early‑career professionals to stay flexible and open to changes in direction. She notes that many health professionals discover their true interests after beginning in another field or specialty. Her guidance is to explore, stay curious, and pay attention to the work that feels meaningful.
Elizabeth Parks (Kanaka Maoli/ Hawaiian), MD, Medical Director
Dr. Elizabeth Parks serves as SIHB’s Medical Director and as a Family Medicine physician providing full‑spectrum primary care. She sees relatives of all ages, offering prenatal care, chronic disease management, in‑office procedures, and treatment for acute illness and injury. She works alongside a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals, supervises Family Medicine residents, and teaches medical students. As Medical Director, she oversees SIHB’s medical staff and helps design and implement new initiatives to improve care quality and access for relatives.
Elizabeth’s career path began in biomedical engineering at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where she realized she wanted deeper, more hands‑on relationships with patients. Engineering, she says, helped her understand how complex systems work — a foundation she draws on daily in her Family Medicine practice. Her experiences in the Indian Health Pathway at the University of Washington School of Medicine helped clarify the type of physician she wanted to become, and she credits mentors, including Dr. Terry Maresca (Mohawk), with guiding her. “She helps me make connections, and gives powerful insights when I’m facing obstacles,” Elizabeth says.
Cultural values guide Elizabeth’s approach to leadership and care. She shares the Hawaiian principle, “Aloha aku, aloha mai” — give love away, love comes back to you. When work feels challenging, she returns to this teaching as a reminder of what matters most: “People matter. Their suffering matters to me.”
Elizabeth encourages early‑career Native professionals to follow what genuinely interests them rather than striving for perfection. “It’s better to be interesting than perfect,” she says. “Do things that actually interest you, not what you think you’re supposed to, and you’ll get where you need to be.”