Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, will be visiting the Island Tuesday to meet with a federal tribal advisory committee.

The meeting, which is scheduled to be held on Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) homelands and run through Thursday, will be with the Secretary Tribal Advisory Committee (STAC), a group of 17 tribal delegates informing Mr. Kennedy on critical health priorities in their regions.

Aquinnah tribal council chairwoman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, who is an at-large delegate of STAC, said this is the first time the annual meeting will be held on-Island.

“It’s a privilege to be able to host,” Ms. Andrews-Maltais said. “It’s their meeting, we’re just providing a homeland venue for them.”

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services press secretary Emily Hilliard confirmed via email that Mr. Kennedy will be in attendance.

Ms. Andrews-Maltais said the committee determined the meeting would be held in Aquinnah years in advance. Only Aquinnah tribal council members are invited, she said, and the meeting is closed to press. 

During the meeting, STAC leaders will discuss universal health problems and issues specific to individual tribes and regions. In years past, Ms. Andrews-Maltais said she’s raised concerns about tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome.

Mr. Kennedy was sworn in as the secretary of the U.S .Health and Human Services Department in February and is tasked with overseeing several different divisions, including the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and the son of attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, Secretary Kennedy is a controversial figure, especially for his stance on vaccines.

On Monday, he stood beside President Donald Trump as they announced the move to approve a chemotherapy drug to alleviate symptoms of autism, despite little evidence, and warned pregnant women from taking acetaminophen, claiming a link to autism in children, according to national reports.

Some Islanders are planning to protest Mr. Kennedy’s arrival at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport and in Aquinnah at the intersection of Lower Moshup Trail and State Road.

Ms. Andrews-Maltais said she knows about the protests and while everyone is entitled to their opinion, she welcomes Mr. Kennedy to the Aquinnah homelands.

“Just from my experience, as well as the experience from our tribe, the secretary has a good understanding of the trust and treaty responsibility and he has been doing his best to uphold that trust and treaty responsibility to all of Indian Country,” she said.

Mr. Kennedy spoke alongside Ms. Andrews-Maltais in April during a fireside chat at a Tribal Self-Governance conference in Arizona.

Ms. Andrews-Maltais said the secretary, who has long come to the Island, has a good relationship with the Aquinnah tribe. 

“He has kept his word on trying to resolve any issues that we’ve had within any of the departments within his portfolio,” Ms. Andrews-Maltais said. 

She said Mr. Kennedy’s visit to Aquinnah will enable him to see the Island’s nuance from a tribal lens and relay challenges with housing and cost of living to the rest of his administration.

“It will be able to highlight the uniqueness of our Aquinnah Wampanoag people as well as Eastern Woodlands Indians across the board,” she said.