Lori Arviso Alvord, MD, '79

Lori is also an Assistant Professor of Surgery and Psychiatry, and a board-certified practicing general surgeon.She received her Doctorate of Medicine from Stanford University in 1985. Her surgical residency was completed at Stanford University Hospital in 1991. She was employed as a surgeon for members of the Navajo and Zuni tribes by the Indian Health Service in Gallup, New Mexico, from 1991 to 1997.

Dr. Alvord performs clinical research in surgical outcomes in American Indian populations, and is funded by a National Institute of Health grant from the National Institute of Aging. She is also a member of the NIH's National Advisory Council for the National Institute of Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Her memoir, The Scalpel and the Silver Bear (Alvord, L., and Cohen van Pelt, E., Bantam, 1999), tells the story of her journey from the reservation to become a surgeon and her work to combine Navajo philosophies of healing with western medicine, to create models of healing environments. The Scalpel and the Silver Bear is used by many undergraduate and medical school college courses, and is a popular reading group selection.

Dr. Alvord has received many awards, including honorary degrees from Albany Medical College, and Drexel University, and has been a commencement speaker for five medical schools, including the University of Vermont in 2007. She received the Outstanding Women in Medicine Award from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and the Governor's Award for Outstanding Women from the State of New Mexico. She is also prominently featured in the National Library of Medicine exhibit, “Changing the Face of Medicine,” honoring pioneering women physicians of the past 150 years. Lori is married to Jonathan Alvord, and they have two children, Kodiak and Kaitlyn, and live in Enfield, New Hampshire.