Maria Pontes Ferreira, PhD, RD (Huron-Wendat First Nation & Brazilian) Position: Board Member Current Term: 2009 – 2010 Website: http://www.haskell.edu/ and http://www.ku.edu/

Committee Member: Chapter Committee, Native American Affairs Committee

Institution: Haskell Indian Nations University & University of Kansas
Position: IRACDA Postdoctoral Fellow
Field: Applied Biology
Specialization: Exercise, Nutrition, & Preventive Health

Maria Pontes Ferreira, PhD (Huron-Wendat First Nation and Brazilian), was born on the beautiful Long Island Sound coast of Connecticut. She spent her youth exploring the tidal Black Hall and Connecticut Rivers and marshes. Her fondest memories include the times she spent with her grandfather packing up the boat for camping trips on tidal islands, digging for clams at low tide, trapping crabs, drying edible seaweed, catching bluefish at midnight, and cooking over the campfire on the beach. She also spent a portion of her childhood growing up in Brasil, where she delighted in foot racing with the boys, tending to her gardens, and playing with her pets that included giant yellow praying mantes, a parrot named Cricket, and a dog named Snoopy.

Upon her return to the U.S., she entered turbulent times as a teenager from a broken home and deceased grandparents. Emerging from foster care, she finally put herself through college at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and earned a BS in exercise science. She then earned a MS degree in exercise & sport nutrition at Texas Woman’s University, followed by training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. to then become a Registered Dietician. She worked for several years as a research associate at the University of Memphis, conducting research at the Exercise & Sport Nutrition Laboratory, leading to publications regarding the use of creatine, β-hydroxy β-methlybutyrate, and conjugated linoleic acid supplements. She also served as a sports dietician to the Memphis Tigers, and was the clinical dietician at the HIV/AIDS outpatient clinic. She subsequently moved to Montreal, Quebec and pursued doctoral studies at McGill University. She sought out and received coaching from the 1976 & 1983 Olympic Games Canadian weightlifting team coach. She also received the Canadian weightlifting coach certification level 1 through the Federation D’Halterophilie Du Quebec. For three years, she competed at the provincial level and served as an assistant weightlifting coach and sport nutritionist with Les Geants de Montreal weightlifting club at Centre Sportif Gadbois. A difficult sexual-harassment case combined with academic struggles led to a withdrawal from doctoral studies at McGill. Upon her return to the U.S., she spent two years at Smith College, serving as a bone biology research associate in the engineering department of this premiere women’s liberal arts college. Thereafter, she attempted a doctoral program at the school of medicine at Boston University, but due to lack of support withdrew from the program. Her final and successful attempt at doctoral studies occurred at Baylor University, where she studied exercise, nutrition, and preventive health and earned the PhD degree within three years.

Currently, Dr. Ferreira is an IRACDA postdoctoral fellow teaching biology and sport nutrition at Haskell Indian Nations University, where she currently is also serving as the Olympic weightlifting coach with the sponsorship of Healthier Haskell. She is committed to the advancement of the aboriginal student, athlete and patient, through research, education, and practice.

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