Tribal Chief Beverly Kiohawiton Cook

Beverly Kiohawiton Cook is currently serving her third term as an elected Chief on the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council. Beverly is a Family Nurse Practitioner, is a prominent voice in the
mind-body medicine approach to restoring wellness, reproductive health and environmental justice for Mohawk people. She has presented her signature lecture, “Resilience from our Roots: You are Creation,” to hundreds of community members as well as national and international audiences. The lecture weaves together Haudenosaunee traditions and beliefs with basic reproductive physiology, encouraging understanding of the responsibilities of men and women and an appreciation for the transmission of historical trauma through the generations.

In her previous role as Clinic Coordinator, Chief Cook led the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Health Services systems redesign. Her innovative approach, including patient-centered care, aligned with a national trend to address trauma as a root cause of adult illness. Her efforts resulted in the successful implementation of symptom reduction services and the introduction of Adverse Childhood Experiences (or “ACE”) Predictive Consequences, the foundation of how health care workers encounter personal interactions when Trauma Informed Approaches is effectively applied.

Since her election to Tribal Council in 2013, Chief Cook has been selected by United South and Eastern Tribes (USET) to represent the Nashville Area (which includes NYS Tribes/Nations) on the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), National Institutes of Health Tribal Advisory Committee (NIH TAC), Substance Abuse And Mental Health Services Administration Technical Tribal Advisory Committee (SAMHSA TTAC). Most recently she was asked to serve as Co-Chair on the NCAI Climate Change Summit Committee.

At home, she is a member of the Three Sister’s Advisory Board and championed the Akwesasne Child Advocacy Center that provides victim-centered care for abused children. Chief Cook has been a valuable supporter of the Tribe’s Summit committee (formerly the Child Safe Summit Committee) focusing on establishing tools and resources that support trauma-informed and resilience building practices within tribal programs and in the workplace.

Chief Cook is active in ancient Indigenous practices and circles in her community of Akwesasne, where she lives on her ancestral home along the St. Lawrence River. When not busy with the many demands of a Tribal Chief, she spends her time with her friends and family, including three daughters, a son and her four grandchildren. (2019)

July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2016

July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019

July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022

July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2025