Healing Across Generations with Dr. Sophie Two Hawk, M.D.

Dr. Sophie Two Hawk, M.D., a 2025 Inductee of the South Dakota Hall of Fame, is renowned for her pioneering career in medicine and her lifelong commitment to improving health care for Native American communities. As the first Native American to graduate from medical school in South Dakota, she built a legacy rooted in service, cultural understanding, and compassion.

Early Life & Calling to Medicine

Dr. Two Hawk comes from a lineage of Lakota healers, particularly women who carried knowledge of medicine and care across generations. Her great-grandmother was a medicine woman known as Cedar Woman. “In the Lakota culture, we look at healing as being chosen,” she explained. “It’s a balance of our physical being, our mental being, and our spiritual being.”

Dr. Two Hawk was given the Lakota name Hante Hinyape Win, meaning cedar woman coming up out of the ground. “I was that next generation, the one coming up behind,” she said, reflecting on the responsibility and purpose tied to her name.

From an early age, Dr. Two Hawk knew she wanted to become a physician. When teachers discouraged her, telling her that medicine was not a field for Native women, her parents encouraged her to keep going. That support, paired with determination, set her on a path to break barriers.

Education & Breaking Barriers

Driven by focus and discipline, Dr. Two Hawk graduated from high school at the age of 16, earned her undergraduate degree by 19, and completed medical school at 23. “I just knew what I wanted to do,” she said. “So I worked hard to make sure that I was getting the sciences and the math background that I needed.”

She chose to attend medical school at the University of South Dakota, where she became the first Native American physician trained in the state. Growing up on and near reservations across South Dakota also shaped her worldview. “It helped me see different parts of the country and meet different people,” she shared, experiences that later informed her patient-centered approach to care.

Healing the Whole Person

Throughout her career, Dr. Two Hawk emphasized treating the whole patient. Early medical training often focused narrowly on illness. “That’s kind of how you treated them and didn’t take in the bigger picture,” she said.

Her approach blends Western medicine with Indigenous perspectives that honor the balance between mind, body, and spirit. She has worked with medical students and residents to stress the importance of listening. “How can you help a patient get better if you don’t understand where they come from?” she asked, underscoring the importance of compassion and cultural awareness in health care.

Impact, Advocacy & Legacy

Dr. Two Hawk spent years addressing health care disparities on reservations across the state, where limited resources and systemic barriers created complex challenges. Progress, she noted, came through collaboration. “The differences that we made were because we came together as a team.”

She also worked to improve medical education by helping future providers better understand cultural differences that impact care. Today, she sees progress. “We went from one Native American graduate to over 60,” she said of medical school graduates in South Dakota. “Not enough, but it’s an improvement.”

When asked about her legacy, Dr. Two Hawk focused on unity and shared responsibility. “We’re all relatives,” she said. “If we can come together as different peoples and work together to improve care, that’s what’s going to make the difference in the long run.”

Dr. Sophie Two Hawk’s story is a testament to perseverance, cultural wisdom, and intergenerational healing.

Watch the full interview with Dr. Sophie Two Hawk, M.D., hosted by Angela Kennecke, 2021 South Dakota Hall of Fame inductee, below to hear her story in her own words.