David G. Perdue, MD

I grew up in Spokane Washington. I completed my undergraduate work at the Honors College at Washington State University, and earned a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of Colorado. I then attended the University of Washington School of Medicine where I participated in the Native American Health Pathway. During this experience I externed with the Seattle Indian Health Board, spent several months traveling with a traditional healer, and conducted research with Alaska Native populations through the CDC's Arctic Investigation Program in Anchorage. I completed my internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Minnesota, where I subsequently spent three years on the faculty.

A member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, I divide my time between clinical practice and research aimed at decreasing colorectal and other gastrointestinal cancer disparities in American Indian and Alaska Native populations. I am a Medical Director of the American Indian Cancer Foundation. I currently have active research projects involving reservation and urban cohorts in the Northwest, Northern Plains and Alaska. In addition I co-chair the Minnesota Intertribal Colorectal Cancer Council and the Minnesota Colon Cancer Task Force. I'm also a member of both the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center and the Mayo Clinic's Spirit of Eagles Cancer Research Network.