Jenny Patten Magallanes Profiled by Diversity Journal for Native American Indigenous Leadership Awards
Akin American Indian policy & regulation counsel Jenny Patten Magallanes was profiled by Profiles in Diversity Journal for its Third Annual Native American Indigenous Leadership Awards.
In her profile, Jenny notes that she grew up wanting to become a doctor because of her family’s struggles in accessing health care, but chose a different path to study policy and focus on how to create systemic change for Native communities. “Upon a more critical reflection, I realized that my passion for health was not in direct services, but instead related to how reform could be made in the health policy and management system,” she writes.
After a stint as a summer intern at the Native American Health Center in Oakland, California, she witnessed the challenges that management faced with “health and resource disparities, looming state budget cuts, and hopes of federal health reform” and realized she wanted to focus on these issues from a legal and advocacy perspective.
After Columbia Law, Jenny writes, she was attracted to Akin’s American Indian policy & regulation practice and has remained engaged by the “complex and innovative work that we do at the intersection of policy, regulatory, management and legal issues in a variety of sectors.”
Jenny says, “My journey changed because of my willingness to leave doors open, take chances, and develop new skill sets. Each new opportunity came with its own challenges and forced me to combat feelings of imposter syndrome and self-doubt.”
To read the full profile, click here.
