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.

Students from the Forensic Science and Criminal Justice course saw the process in action during a tour of the Alaska Department of Public Safety Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory. They learned how to collect and analyze common types of evidence found at crime scenes including fingerprints, footprints and DNA.

As summer approaches, many of Alaska WWAMI first year medical students (MS1s) are participating in skills labs as they gear up for their Rural Underserved Opportunities Program (RUOP) placements in different parts of Alaska.

"For all those deciding what to do following high school, I encourage you to find your passion, that spark that brings you joy and motivation. If you don’t quite know what you want to do with your life, that is okay. When you find the path that motivates you, take each small step one by one, but don’t stop growing," said MSW student Guy Harris.

When Summer Sweet started at UAA, she was drawn to public health. “I think it’s important to recognize the idea of environmental health, human health and animal health-everything around us as a whole.”. Sweet graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences 2022 and now puts her skills to work at UAA as a staff member.

Psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner alumna Catherine Haese will serve as the graduate student speaker at the spring 2023 commencement ceremony before starting a new position where she will use her personal experience to foster addiction recovery solutions and treat mental health issues.

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.

The Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation is excited to announce it is offering pickleball at UAA for the first time starting this fall.

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.

UAA Associate Professor of Environmental Health Micah Hahn is leading a research project around climate change, health, wildfire smoke and environmental justice in Alaska that recently received a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).