She is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona and has completed MPH and DrPH degrees in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. Before her academic career, she worked for the Indian Health Service and the Navajo Nation in rural communities on the Navajo Reservation and in a community health center in Arizona. Dr. Begay has taught courses in rural health, sociocultural and behavioral aspects of public health, health disparities, health principles, and methods of community health promotion. She is currently pursuing research about diabetes in an indigenous population in the USA and Mexico. Her interests are in the environmental influences on the development of type 2 diabetes and other health disparities.