Education

• Bachelor Degree of Social Work, UAF, 1999
• Master Degree of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, Brown School of Social Work, 2000
• PhD in Cross Cultural Community Psychology, UAF, 2009
• Postdoctoral training in Geriatric Mental Health, UW School of Medicine, 2012-2013)
• Credentialed Professional Gerontologist (CGP; 2016)

Teaching Responsibilities

• Ecology of Health and Medicine
• Indian Health Issues
• Rural and Frontier Medicine

Professional & Department Service

Since joining WWAMI in 2016, I have been actively engaged with both the UAA and WWAMI communities in a variety of capacities, with a commitment and focus on engaging with the Native communities on and off campus. Upon arriving at UAA I became engaged with several committees at UAA, as well as WWAMI and the University of Washington School of Medicine. As an academic, my priority is University service, and collaborating with my colleagues to provide excellent education and training to our Native and non-Native students across campus.

I was actively involved with the Alaska Native Subcommittee for the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. I served on the Alaska Native Education and Research committee facilitated through the Office of Alaska Native and Diversity.

In addition to my University service, I am actively engaged with the Alaska Native community and serving in various capacities related to health disparities and elder health. I have spent the first two years establishing relationships with the Alaska Native tribal health corporations in Alaska and across the State to provide networks and opportunities for WWAMI and UAA students to participate in the journals in my professional areas, and mentoring graduate students with publication reviews and scholarly critiques. I continue to serve as the Chair of the Indigenous Peoples and Ageing Interest Group for the Gerontological Society of America and serve as co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion committee of the American Society on Aging. 

Research Interests

As a cross-cultural community psychologist, my research explores the role of culture in the aging process and how it impacts whether or not individuals are able to age successfully despite sociocultural challenges in rural Alaska. My research links together issues of Alaska Native aging and community health and the current cultural dynamics of Alaska Native communities. The focus of my research is to gather and document the experiences of Alaska Native Elders who are viewed as healthy Elders by their community and have a desire to share their stories to help future generations to age in a good way. As an interdisciplinary qualitative researcher, I have been trained to collect data through interviews to explore phenomena occurring in our rural communities. I am interested in using an ecological systems approach to health, incorporating the Elder, family, community, and environment in exploring health behaviors and health disparities among ANAI populations.

As the only Alaska Native researcher focused on successful aging, my long-term goal is to develop programs for all ages that will teach us how to age well based on experiences and lessons of Alaska Native Elders and translate these findings into public health programs promoting successful aging across the lifespan. Translating the lessons and experiences of how Elders age successfully will enable others to reflect on what enables them to age successfully despite health status, be able to live their remaining years in their community, stay engaged in meaningful activities, and contribute to the health and wellbeing of their family and community members (Lewis, 201b4). I am at the stage of my research career where I am translating research findings to develop and promote programs about ways to engage in health behaviors and meaningful activities with family and community to younger generations.

Ultimately, this research will facilitate: a) the opportunity for Elders to define aging well in their own words; b) teach us to view Elders as valuable resources and recreate the respected role of Elders in their homes and communities that once existed in our communities; c) encourage meaningful engagement and translation of knowledge to younger generations for the benefit of Elder, family, and community, and; d) highlight the specific resources that enable them to age in place. To address these community level changes, my research has highlighted the need for communities to establish activities promoting engagement among Elders and members such as Elder/youth activities, classroom participation, or cultural activities (i.e., dance groups, language classes, subsistence activities). The lessons we learn from AN Elders are relevant to other populations and are lessons on how to age well that we can apply to our lives. The findings of this research will serve as the foundation of an AIAN aging model emphasizing the role generative behaviors and acts on our ability to age well. These findings will be shared with ANAI.

Publications

Article:

• Lewis, J.P., Boyd, K., Allen, J., Rasmus, S., & Henderson, T. (2018). “We raise our grandchildren as our own children:" Alaska Native grandparents raising grandchildren in Southwest Alaska. Journal of Cross Cultural Gerontology, 33(3), 265-286. Doi: 10.1007/s10823-018-9350-z
• Lewis, J.P., & Allen, J. (2017). Alaska Native Elders in Recovery: Linkages between Indigenous Cultural Generativity and Sobriety to promote Successful Aging. Journal of Cross Cultural Gerontology, 32(2), 209-222
• Lewis, J.P. (2016). American Indian/Alaska Native Elders: A growing demographic that is changing how we view aging. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 59(4), 277-280
• Skewes, M.C., & Lewis, J.P. (2016). Sobriety and alcohol use among rural Alaska Native elders. International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 75(1), 1-8
• LePak, J.E., Lewis, J.P., & Walters, K. (2016). “I’m in this world for a reason: Resilience and Recovery among American Indian and Alaska Native Two Spirit Women. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 20(3/4)
• Henderson, T. L., Dinh, M., Morgan, K, & Lewis, J. (2015). Alaska Native grandparents rearing grandchildren: A rural community story.  Journal of Family Issues, 38(4), 547-572. doi:10.1177/0192513X15597292
• Lewis, J.P. (2014b). The role of the social engagement in the definition of successful aging among Alaska Native Elders in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Psychology of Developing Societies, 26(2), 263-290
• Lewis, J.P. (2014a). What successful aging means to Alaska Natives: Exploring the reciprocal relationship between the health and well-being of Alaska Native Elders. International Journal of Ageing and Society, 3(1), 77-88. ISSN: 2160-1909
• Lewis, J.P. (2013b). The Importance of Optimism in Maintaining Healthy Aging in Rural Alaska.  Qualitative Health Research, 23(11). Doi: 10.1177/1049732313508013
• Lewis, J.P. (2013a). The future of successful aging in Alaska: What can we learn from our Elders to ensure a healthy future.  International Journal of Circumpolar Health (72), 21186.  This paper is part of Supplement 1, 2013, ICCH15 Proceedings. http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21186
• Lewis, J.P. (2011). Successful aging through the eyes of Alaska Native Elders. What it means to be an Elder in Bristol Bay, AK. The Gerontologist, 51(4), 540-549. doi:10.1093/geront/gnr006
• Lewis, J. (2010).  Successful aging through the eyes of Alaska Natives. Exploring generational differences among Alaska Natives.  Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 25 (4), 385-396. doi:10.1007/s10823-010-9124-8

Book Chapters:

• Dougherty, J., Lewis, J.P., & Lomay, N. (2018). Working with American Indian and Alaska Native Families in Dementia Care. Ethnicity and the Dementias. Routledge/Taylor & Francis
• Lewis, J.P. (2018, under review). Reclaiming our identity through indigenous cultural generative acts to improve mental health of all generations. Indigenous Mental Health, University of Guleph. Toronto, Canada
• Tovar, M., Patterson, D., & Lewis, J. (2015). American Indian/Alaska Native Elders. In The Oxford Handbook of Social Work in Health and Aging. Second Edition. Oxford University Press
• Allen, J., Lewis, J., & Johnson-Jennings, M. (2015). Well-being and health counseling; Pedersen, P. B., Draguns, J. G., Lonner, W. J., & Trimble, J. E. Counseling Across Cultures, Seventh Edition, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 433-453
• Lewis, J.P., Allen, J., & Fleagle, E. (2014). “We have to go through the problem:” Internalized Oppression and Alaska Native People. Internalized Oppression: The Psychology of Marginalized Groups.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. pp. 57-81
• Tovar, M., Lewis, J., & Patterson, D. (2013). Older Native Americans. The Handbook of Social Work in Health and Aging, Second Edition. Oxford University Press

Career History/Work Experience

After my MSW I worked with the Missouri Division of Aging in St. Louis to set up home services for older adults and then I moved to Fredericksburg, VA to work as the Policy Analyst for First Nations Development Institute, where I focused on policy related to farming, agriculture, land management, and other economic development related topics. I traveled around Indian Country hosting policy workshops, developing strategies, and attend meetings. After working here a year I spent 3 years on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC firs with National Conference of State Legislatures as a policy analyst and then with the Kaiser Native American Health Fellowship program in the Office of Frank Pallone (D-NJ). I returned to University of Alaska Fairbanks to work on my doctoral degree in Cross Cultural Community Psychology and graduated in 2009. IN 2011 I moved to UW School of Medicine for a postdoctoral fellowship in geriatric mental health with underserved older adults and after one year, transitioned to UW School of Social Work and the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute as an Assistant Professor. I taught for three years and then transitioned to WWAMI Alaska in 2016.