Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative

Breadcrumb

Chase Bryer​

Program Coordinator, NAISI, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Behavioral and Social Health Sciences (School of Public Health)
chase_bryer@brown.edu
67 George Street
Research Interests Indigenous LGBTQ and Two-Spirit Health; Aging and HIV/AIDS; Indigenous research methodologies; Gerontology

Biography

Chase Bryer (Chickasaw Nation) is a current Ph.D. candidate in Behavioral and Social Health Sciences at the Brown University School of Public Health. He joined NAISI in 2022 and has since contributed to programmatic efforts that strengthen the NAISI-affiliated graduate student community at Brown, including dissertation and thesis writing sessions and Lunch & Learns to highlight NAISI-affiliated graduate student research across disciplines. Through his doctoral research, he applies Indigenous research methodologies to deepen understanding of how Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQ+ people living with HIV conceptualize aging. His work seeks to expand the field of gerontology by illuminating aging experiences that are too often invisibilized, while challenging Western "successful aging" narratives that position these communities as outside—or incapable—of aging well using resilience-based approaches. Chase holds an MSW from Washington University in St. Louis and a BA in Human Rights and Media from the University of Oklahoma.

Publications

Selected Publications / Public Scholarship 
 
Bryer, C., Lodge, W., 2nd, Goulet, P., & Baldwin, J. A. (2025). "A Tricky Dance": Ryan White Service Experiences Among American Indian/Alaska Native Two-Spirit and LGBTQ + People Living with HIV. AIDS and behavior, 29(7), 2243–2248. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-025-04688-w
 
Bryer, C., Blackdeer, A., Gallani, B., & Lewis, J. (2023). Theoretical approaches to disrupting legacies of historical trauma among Indigenous queer and Two-Spirit elders. Healthy Populations Journal, ISSN: 2816-2536. https://doi.org/10.15273/hpj.v3i4.11480
 
Bryer, C. M., Stang, G. S., Collins, A. B., Haygood, L. N., Blu Wakpa, T., & Proulx, J. (2025). Promoting Healthy Aging Through Mindfulness and Yoga: A Systematic Review of Interventions for People Living with HIV Who Use Drugs or Who Have a History of Substance Use. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 22(11), 1685. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22111685
 
Bryer, C. “‘Coming In’ as a Two-Spirit Journey.” The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide — An essay reflecting on Two-Spirit identity, Indigenous understandings of belonging, and the reframing of "coming out" through relational and cultural lenses. https://glreview.org/article/coming-in-as-a-two-spirit-journey/
 
Proulx, J., Bryer, C., Cousins, J. “Mindfulness, Indigenous Wisdom, and Community Well-Being.” Mind & Life Institute – Co-authored article exploring how community-engaged mindfulness and Indigenous ways of knowing support healing and well-being across cultures. https://www.mindandlife.org/insight/mindfulness-indigenous-wisdom-and-community-well-being/