Dr. Jacque Gray is a Choctaw/Cherokee Interim Co-Director of the Native Center for Behavioral Health at the University of Iowa. Gray is the lead for the Strong Heart Study Psychosocial Work Group, a longitudinal study of cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders in American Indians that began in 1988. She is a partner for the National Center for State and Tribal Elder Justice Coalitions funded by the Department of Justice Office of Victims of Crime. Gray participated in the White House Conference on Aging in 2015 to address elder justice issues.
She has worked to address health, mental health, and health disparities across Indian Country for more than 40 years and internationally, working with Māori suicide prevention. Gray is also consulting with a number of American Indian/Alaska Native programs throughout the U.S. She led summer undergraduate research programs with American Indian and Alaska Native students at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences for over 10 years. She retired from UND SMHS in 2021 as a research associate professor emerita. She received a doctorate from Oklahoma State University in 1998 and was at UND for 25 years. Gray is a member of the Society of Indian Psychologists, she is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, and served in leadership with several professional organizations.