Professional Profile

Nicolle L. Arthun

Government Relations & Health Policy Advisor

Nicolle L. Arthun joined Hobbs Straus in October 2026 as a Government Relations and Health Policy Advisor in the Washington, DC office. She brings more than two decades of experience in Native maternal health policy and international engagement on Indigenous reproductive and maternal health, along with a career as a certified nurse-midwife serving Tribal and rural communities.

Most recently, Nicolle served as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján, where she developed national policy strategy on maternal, reproductive, and Indigenous health, including Medicaid policy. She led the development of five national policy reports on American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian maternal health, covering the health workforce, data sovereignty, health care delivery, maternal mortality, and federal funding.

Nicolle founded Changing Woman Initiative, the first Native American women-led maternal health nonprofit in the United States, and built its federal and state policy portfolio. Globally, she has engaged the UN Human Rights Committee, the Universal Periodic Review, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Indigenous maternal and reproductive health.

Nicolle holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of New Mexico College of Nursing. She earned her MSN in Nurse-Midwifery and BSN from UNM and is a Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

Outside of the office, Nicolle enjoys traveling, contemporary art, writing, hiking, and spending time with her family.