Over the summer, many young Alaska WWAMI medical students p​articipated in a transformative 4-week elective ​a​cross the state. The Rural Underserved Opportunities Program (RUOP, said as “roo-op”) is for students between their first and second years of medical school that are interested in experiencing a practice in the Alaska bush. Physicians in remote communities are jack-of-all-trade, rugged individualists and those characteristics serve as healthcare cornerstones in many areas of Alaska’s Greatland.

Alaska continues to see staffing shortages at pharmacies, made worse by the pandemic, but also due to conditions affecting the state more broadly. UAA/ISU Doctor of Pharmacy program faculty member, Dr. Coleman Cutchins, discusses the issue with Alaska Public Media.

UAA Justice Center Professor and Alaska Justice Information Center Director, Brad Myrstol, spoke with KNBA about the disproportionally high number of Alaska Native and American Indian inmates in the Alaskan and U.S. prison system.

Master of Social Work student Shana Cooper works with the Alaska Native Justice Center. She joined the Hometown, Alaska podcast to talk about mental health and suicide prevention in the state.

The Remote Area Medical (RAM) nonprofit clinic recently made its first visit to Alaska, setting up pop-up clinics in Anchorage and Fairbanks to provide free dental, vision, and medical services to those in need. However, RAM faced a challenge when it came to staffing the clinics with dental hygiene volunteers.

Like other animals in the wild, the big animals that roam Alaska’s largest city are carrying bacteria that cannot be killed by commonly used medicines.

On Feb. 24, the Alaska VA Clinic was officially renamed the Colonel Mary Louise Rasmuson Campus of the Alaska VA Healthcare System, a collaborative effort that included both Alaska senators and U.S Representative, as well as the invaluable contributions of Assistant Professor Vanessa Meade in UAA’s School of Social Work.

The opioid epidemic remains a complex and multi-faceted issue for residents of the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Borough, Alaska. Medical student Ian Richey interviewed three local organizations to assess community strengths, describe their missions and how they help patients with substance use disorder.

UAA's Alaska Justice Information Center presented data from 1979 thru 2021 to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Troy C. Payne, Director of AJIC wrote "After a large increase in the mid-2010’s, motor vehicle theft has been trending down since 2018. In both trend and magnitude, Alaska is similar to the national average for property offenses. Alaska has consistently had higher-than-average rates of violence since 1993."

A $1.5 million grant coordinated by Recover Alaska was presented to the University of Alaska Anchorage School of Social Work, which will significantly increase enrollment capacity, establish a pathway to licensure for graduates, add faculty and staffing, and offer continuing education to maintain clinical licenses.