The Changing Face of Medicine: Dr. Sharon M. Malotte

The National Library of Medicine has organized an exhibition honoring the lives and accomplishments of women doctors who are making a difference in the world of medicine. The exhibition, "Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America's Women Physicians" is on display at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Tribal Connections will devote a space each month to featuring accomplished Native American women doctors from this exhibit.

Dr. Sharon M. Malotte, a member of the TeMoak Band of Western Shoshones of the South Fork Indian Reservation, is the first indigenous Nevadan to become a medical doctor. She completed her undergraduate degree in human biology at Stanford University and received her M.D. degree from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in 1989.

Born in 1955, she knew from the age of five that she wanted to be a doctor – both her mother and grandmother were nurses. After completing her residencies in internal medicine at the University of Nevada-Reno in 1991 and the University of San Francisco-Fresno in 1993, Dr. Malotte served as medical director of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Health Clinic in Schurz, Nevada. She later served for three years at rural and urban Indian Health Service clinics in California. In 1998, she returned to Nevada and took a post as an internist and emergency staff physician at the Battle Mountain General Hospital where she is also medical director of the Long Term Care Facility.

Dr. Malotte is a member of the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP) and maintains a strong connection to her Indian heritage, which she considers an integral part of her work in building relationships with patients and acting as a mentor. She devotes much of her time to public speaking and is proud to be a role model for other American Indians. She is the mother of two daughters.

To view the entire profile of Dr. Malotte, please visit http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_210.html