Casey Cooper, chief executive officer for Cherokee Indian Hospital, will deliver Western Carolina University’s annual public lecture on Indian health at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2.

Cooper will address the topic “The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: Issues in Health” in a talk scheduled for the A.K. Hinds University Center theater.

The event is made possible through a $3,000 gift from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel to Western Carolina’s College of Health and Human Sciences to sponsor a public lecture series on Native American health issues offered through the university’s Culturally Based Native Health Program.

Established in 2006, the Culturally Based Native Health Program, or CBNHP, provides health professionals with an opportunity to acquire knowledge about Cherokee culture and other Native American cultures that might help them in treating patients.

The program’s lecture series is designed to help inform the public of issues that affect the health and wellbeing of Native peoples and to be of interest to those who work in rural communities in Southern Appalachia with other underserved populations.

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