We are excited to introduce Nasreen Broomand, the inaugural UCSF NAGPRA Program graduate research intern. Nasreen will be assisting with collection management, documentation, and communications to support the implementation of the University of California Native American Cultural Affiliation and Repatriation Policy (“NAGPRA Policy”), as well as the federal and California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).
The UCSF NAGPRA Program was organized in 2020 to proactively address the campus’s NAGPRA compliance. The Program initiated a UCSF-wide search for Native American and Native Hawaiian human remains and cultural items, which are being inventoried and submitted to national NAGPRA and tribal representatives. Items include associated and unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony.
Nasreen is currently a PhD candidate at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). She received her masters in biological anthropology from UCSC in 2019. She also has two bachelors degrees in anthropology (archaeology) and microbiology (microbial ecology) from the University of Montana. In between her undergraduate and graduate studies she held lab technician positions in genomics labs at the US Forest Service and Harvard Medical School. Combining her passions for archaeology, microbial genomics, and justice-oriented research, she is now researching the genomics of ancient pathogens in the context of Spanish colonialism.
An outspoken advocate for the normalization of community-led and ethical research in paleogenomics, Nasreen was naturally drawn to repatriation work. In January 2022 she contributed to the NAGPRA compliance process as a volunteer at the UCSC’s Monterey Bay Archeological Archives. She is thrilled to be involved in UCSF’s repatriation process as well. In recent years she has held positions focused on improving community science outreach and access to academic opportunities for members of marginalized groups. She also serves as co-preside of UCSC Women in Science and Engineering. In her spare time, Nasreen enjoys backpacking, gardening, baking vegan goodies, and spending time with her three rescue pets.