Hi! I’m Tessa.

I am a health equity professional presenter who speaks about Cultural Wisdom, The Four Elements. This work is based on a concept created by my husband, Dr. Roberto Dansie, a Native Psychologist.

I am a cultural storyteller specializing in storytelling for community engagement to integrate community knowledge, and empowering culture centered community involved research.

Learn more about Roberto’s work here:

My work seeks to empower community-based, non-profit organizations, indigenous communities, rural farmworker communities, communities of color, people dealing with poverty, traumatized and underserved population’s health and educational needs.

I create innovative solutions to complex issues to create equity in healthcare to address the specific needs of the rural farmworker community; advocating, building community, and creating greater access to care, with less barriers to care such as cultural liaisons, community health workers, and Promotores de Saud (promoters of health).

I am a Stanford University School of Medicine Health Equity Ambassador along with our daughter, Emily Dansie. This professional development program provides training in research and selected health equity topics to a cohort of community members. This is a community building, research, and health equity driven program and is an example of the innovative use of education by Stanford University, as well as showing a commitment to fostering collaboration in community-led research into the impacts of climate change on cancer and health equity. This approach values the lived experiences of the communities served within the Stanford Catchment Area. This recognizes community members as the experts. It allows for community members and advocates to be trained in facilitating research that will result in positive outcomes for the community and greater access to information about their social determinants of health, individually and collectively.

In this program, we build capacity around climate resilience and community-based solutions. This program provides access to funding for research, networking for expanded resource sharing, and fundraising capabilities. There is often very little research available for rural farmworker communities regarding their health disparities, this creates a cycle of disparity due to the need for research data to access funding for further research and healthcare access. I am proud and inspired to be a Health Equity Ambassador for Stanford University School of Medicine. 
One example of an innovative approach to community engagement is an unusual program my husband Roberto created the second needle exchange program in the nation to address addiction as it relates to HIV through the Boulder County Health Department. He continued to lead the work for HIV & Communities of Color, with National Minority Education and Howard University College of Medicine.  Arizona Public Media’s special report on Roberto’s work “How Cultural Sensitivity Can Improve Health Care” and the PBS interview at University of Arizona with Dr. Sally Reel about his work in rural health, “Culture and Care” speak to the relevance of culture as a part of health and healing.

If you are interested in my work, please fill out the form below.

Let’s plant the seeds of hope for community resiliency together!