Physician and actor Dr. Evan Adams will deliver the keynote at the Evan Adams Indigenous medicine symposium — formally, Northern Michigan University’s Indigenous Perspectives Symposium on Medicines — on Friday, September 25, 2026, at NMU’s Northern Center in Marquette, Michigan. The one-day event brings together Indigenous leaders, Elders, knowledge holders, practitioners, and academics to explore traditional approaches to healing, medicine, and wellbeing.
Evan Adams Indigenous Medicine Symposium Keynote Address
Dr. Adams is a Coast Salish physician from the Tla’amin First Nation near Powell River, British Columbia, best known outside medical circles for playing Thomas Builds-the-Fire in the film “Smoke Signals.” He earned his medical doctorate at the University of Calgary and completed a residency in the Aboriginal Family Practice program at UBC in Vancouver. He was a Harkness Fellow at the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Honolulu and currently serves as Assessment Lead for the National Circle for Indigenous Medical Education in Canada. His keynote begins at 5:00 PM.
Live Flute and Hoop Dance Opens the Day
The symposium opens with a performance by Tony Duncan, a celebrated Native American flutist of Apache, Arikara, Hidatsa, and Mandan heritage and a five-time World Champion hoop dancer. Duncan’s set draws on the Apache cane flute and cedar flute traditions to set a contemplative tone before the day’s presentations and workshops begin.
Medicinal Plants, Healing Circles, and Land-Based Learning
Between the opening performance and the closing keynote, Indigenous knowledge holders will lead sessions on woodland medicinal teas and salves, plant identification, healing circles, and the role of physical activity and food as medicine. Workshops and panels will cover the language of Indigenous medicines, traditional ecological knowledge, and land-based, outdoor learning — a scheduling choice organizers tied deliberately to the symposium’s later, land-focused September date.
An Evening Meal Built on the Decolonizing Diet Project
The free public program runs from noon to 5 PM; a dinner afterward, inspired by the Decolonizing Diet project, is available for a fee ($5 for students, $20 for faculty/staff, $25 general admission) and offers attendees a hands-on experience of food framed explicitly as medicine. The symposium also marks the 30th anniversary of NMU’s Center for Native American Studies, which is hosting the event.
Why This Matters for the Shamanic Community
Traditional Indigenous medicine and shamanic healing practice overlap far more than mainstream wellness coverage tends to acknowledge — both treat plant knowledge, ceremony, and community as inseparable from physical healing rather than as alternatives to it. A free, public, university-hosted symposium that puts Elders and knowledge holders directly in front of an audience — rather than filtering their knowledge through a single book or retreat leader — is a rare and valuable access point for Shaman Portal’s readers who want to learn from source communities directly.
Explore More From Shaman Portal
Discover more upcoming gatherings in our Shamanic Events listings, or browse recent coverage in Shaman News.
