Carol Hopkins is the Chief Executive Officer of the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation (a division of the National Native Addictions Partnership Foundation) and is of the Lenape Nation. Carol was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Canada, 2018. In 2019, she received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Western University. Carol has spent more than 25 years in the field of First Nations substance use and mental health. She holds both a Master of Social Work Degree from the University of Toronto and is 4th degree Midewiwin, a sacred Anishinaabe medicine society where she is a Chief and Teacher. Carol has throughout her career, made use of Indigenous knowledge in research, policy, practice-based evidence, teaching, and education, and in facilitating processes of decolonization specific to epistemic racism. She has co-chaired national initiatives known for best practice in national policy review and development, resulting in the: First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework (FNMWC), the Honouring Our Strengths: A Renewed Framework to Address Substance Use Issues Among First Nations in Canada, the Indigenous Wellness Framework, and the Native Wellness Assessment. Her leadership has been engaged within Health and Mental Health for First Nations, Provincial, Territorial, and Federal governments serving several expert advisory and task groups.