Engaging and involving Indigenous and native communities

National Institute for Health and Care Research

This is the fifth episode of our series, Spotlight on community engagement and involvement (CEI): Leaving no one behind.

NIHR-funded researchers, Renata Peppl, Daisy Bin Co, Iliana Curiel and Monsermín Gualan join host, Razina Hussain to share their experiences of engaging Indigenous and native communities in health research in Latin America.

Thank you to Lucia Alvarez and Ana Lorena Guerrero who provided voice overs for Daisy and Iliana.

Get to know our speakers

Renata Peppl is a Research Centre Manager and Creative Researcher at Queen Mary University of London. For over 10 years, she has been involved in developing international and transnational collaborations with grassroots organisations, focusing on Arts & Community engagement methodologies as a resource for researching Mental Health Conditions, Gender-Based Violence, Urban Violence, and homelessness in the UK, Latin America, and South Asia.
Renata is Co-Chair at the Latin American Women's Rights Service and Co-Director at MinA - Migrants in Action, a community-based arts organisation that collaborates with migrant women from the Global Majority with experience of gender-based violence in London.

Daisy Bin Co was born in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. She belongs to the Maya Q’eqchi’ ethnic group and completed university studies in Psychology, later specializing in University Teaching, at the Rafael Landívar University of Guatemala. She then pursued a master's degree in Public Management at the University of Barcelona.

Daisy is Academic Deputy Director at the San Pedro Claver S.J. Campus of La Verapaz at Rafael Landívar University, where she also teaches.

Renata and Daisy are affiliated with NIHR GHR Centre for Community Management of Long-Term Conditions in Latin America (LatAm Centre).

Iliana Curiel is a Physician, Pediatrician, Master in Public Health and Social Policy (Former Scholar at the Center). Iliana is an Indigenous member of the Wayuu people in Colombia and founder of the NGO, Organización Los Hijos del Sol, focused on research and social projects for indigenous communities.

Iliana lectures at the University of La Guajira and is a researcher at the NIHR LatAm Centre at UniJaveriana, specialising in Global Health, community participation, social policies and intercultural approaches to health for indigenous populations.

Monsermin Gualan is a physician with master's degrees in Healthcare Management and Health Sciences Research. Monsermin has worked with indigenous communities in Ecuador, spending a year in the Amazon providing medical care to Kichwa and Waorani communities while learning about their culture. He is the Ecuador Coordinator for the NIHR GHR Unit on Social and Environmental Determinants of Health Inequalities (SEDHI), which evaluates the impact of social and environmental policies on health inequalities. CEI is a key pillar, with indigenous populations being a priority as Ecuador is a pluricultural and plurinational country.

Razina Hussain is an experienced community engagement and development specialist with a strong track record in working with communities and fostering stakeholder collaboration. As a Senior Programme Manager at the NIHR, she has led initiatives to improve health equity, inclusion and public involvement in research and healthcare. Razina designs and delivers impactful programmes that strengthen community voices, working hard to ensure sustainable development, meaningful engagement and lasting social change.

This episode was recorded in early 2025. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.