Asniya
Asniya’s mission is to inspire and empower underserved Native American children with medical knowledge and opportunities.
Asniya is a non-profit outreach program that recruits medical students to teach health and medicine to indigenous children. "Asniya interns" deliver dynamic hands-on classroom presentations to captivate children’s interest in medical science, disease prevention, and careers in health care. For more than 25 years Asniya has inspired Native youth while expanding the cultural awareness of future physicians.

Ryan O’Connor, MD – Board Member since 2009

Ryan O’Connor

Ryan O'Connor completed his medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine in the spring of 2012, followed by Adult Psychiatry Residency at Beth Israel and Brigham and Women's Psychiatry Residency. After completing a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Seattle Children's Hospital/University of Washington, he worked as an attending at Seattle Children's for a year, then at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, and has settled at Boston Children's Hospital on the Psychiatry Consultation Service since 2021. In addition to clinical work helping youth and families who are admitted to the medical and surgical floors, he trains the next generation of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and also co-leads a course at Harvard Medical School.

Ryan interned with Asniya in the summers of 2007 and 2009, and became an Asniya Board Member in 2009. He was also worked with Tufts to establish Asniya as a community service elective for medical students.

"The path to one’s strength, pride, integrity, and wisdom often starts with a vision as a child. Our children may be granted visions in many ways. Often, it is through a teacher with a pure heart."
  • Asniya.org
    PO Box 746
    Rapid City, SD, 57709
    info@asniya.org