Area of Emphasis: Sociology of Health and Illness

Advisors: Katy Kozhimannil

Education:
Master of Pubic Health, Washington University in St Louis
B.A., American Studies, Macalester College

About Me: 

Abaki (Aappaakii) Beck is a writer, organizer, and PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota dedicated to community-engaged, action-oriented research with Indigenous communities. Her research primarily focuses on how the carceral system impacts health across the life course – from pregnancy while being incarcerated to the mental health impacts of arrest during childhood. She has co-led or assisted with community-based research and evaluation projects in Tribal and urban Indigenous communities and with incarcerated people for more than a decade.

Abaki is also a writer, and her work has appeared in numerous national magazines, the 2022 anthology Aftermath: Life in Post-Roe America and the 2023 anthology Artists Remaking Medicine. She has received national and local awards for her work, including a Local Impact Award from the National Indian Health Board and a Changemaker Award from the White House United State of Women. She has been interviewed by the Guardian, the Minnesota Star Tribune, Teen Vogue, the Associated Press, St. Louis Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, and several podcasts.

She is enrolled in the Little Shell Band of Chippewa Indians, is a descendant of the Blackfeet Tribe, and was raised in her homelands in western Montana.

Peer-Reviewed Publications: 

*Indicates author was member of community advisory board

• Beck A, Osman I, Watson A, Branham C,* Seaver B,* Smith A,* Marsh N, Sufrin C, Shlafer RJ. (2025) “It’s gotta be really hard to be a mom inside right now:” A Qualitative Analysis on the Impacts of COVID-19 on Perinatal Support Programs for People in Prison. Health and Justice. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40352-025-00359-z

• Beck A, Osman I, Watson A, Smith A,* Seaver R,* Sufrin C, Shlafer RJ. (2025). “We were on lockdown for pretty much my entire pregnancy”: A qualitative study of pregnancy care in prisons and jails during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 25(1), 815. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-025-07908-2

• Osman I, Beck A, Watson A, Shlafer RJ (2025). A Qualitative Review of Organizational COVID-19 Communications and Guidance for Pregnant and Postpartum People who are Incarcerated. Health Equity, 9(1), 305–315. https://doi.org/10.1089/heq.2024.0235 

• Acri M, Buchanan G, Manhart M, Beck A, Knitter A, Sandler B, Roney L. (2023). Triangulating HPV Vaccine Hesitancy from Multiple Perspectives: A Scoping Review. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/m42vs

• Acri M, Beck A, Chun Y, Shannon M, Roll S, & Grinstein-Weiss M. (2022). Predictors of and barriers to receipt of advance premium tax credits. The American Journal of Managed Care, 28(11), 594–599. https://doi.org/10.37765/ajmc.2022.89262

Community Reports: 

*Indicates author was member of community advisory board

• University of Minnesota Community Research Council*, Beck A, Osman, I., Shlafer, R. J. (2025). Participatory Research with People Impacted by Incarceration: A Resource Guide for Researchers and Practitioners. Shlafer Program for Research on Criminal Justice & Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Pediatrics.

• Pierson, K., Beck A, Thomas, K., Siegler, A., & Shlafer, R. J. (2025). How to Start a Prison Doula Program. Shlafer Program for Research on Criminal Justice & Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Pediatrics.

• Beck, A., Osman, I., Wilson, S., Marsh, L. N., Zielinski, M., Corbett, A., Siegler, A., & Shlafer, R. (2024). Supporting pregnant and postpartum people in prison: Highlights from a multi-site study. Shlafer Program for Research on Criminal Justice & Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Pediatrics.

• Maudrie T, Beck A, Anderson O, Walls M, Harvin J, Stately A, LaFloe B,* Vital J,* Thunder R,* Dionne V,* Norris A.* (2024). Cultivating Healthy Futures for the Twin Cities American Indian/Alaska Native Communities: Report on the Health Needs & Priorities of American Indians/Alaska Natives Living in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Center for Indigenous Health and Native American Community Clinic. Minneapolis, Minnesota.  

• Beck A. (2017). Sokapsksino: Advocacy Guide for Food Sovereignty and Food Security on the Blackfeet Reservation. Saokio Heritage. Blackfeet Reservation, Montana.

• Beck A. (2017). Ahwahsiin: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Food Sovereignty on the Blackfeet Reservation. Saokio Heritage. Blackfeet Reservation, Montana.

Select Popular Press: 

• "Truth and Reckoning" Fall 2024 Issue and September 4, 2024 online. Yes! Magazine.

• “Parole Requirements Stack the Odds Against Indigenous People,” March 3, 2022, TalkPoverty.

• “The Yurok Tribe Is Using California’s Carbon Offset Program to Buy Back Its Land,” April 19, 2021. Yes! Magazine.

• “Medicaid enrollment programs offer hope for formerly incarcerated individuals and savings for states,” February 20, 2020, Health Affairs Blog.

• “Should fossil fuel companies be held accountable for MMIW?”  October 4, 2019, Yes! Magazine.

• “Missing, Murdered, But Never Forgotten: How Indigenous activists are creating decolonial systems of justice to heal from violence,” Issue #80, Fall 2018, Bitch Magazine.

• “Unnatural Selection: How Racism Warps Scientific Truth,” Issue #76, Fall 2017, Bitch Magazine

• See full list here. 

Contact:
beck1369@umn.edu