For countless generations, my family has lived in a small rural village in Northern Alaska. Our strong Inupiaq traditions allowed us to survive in the challenging Arctic conditions. Unfortunately, when alcohol was introduced to our community, a new challenge arose: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. During my life, FAS has been close and personal. My aunt and little cousin live with us. As a teenager I often took care of him. My aunt drank while she was pregnant, so my cousin had trouble with basic development—walking, talking, socializing. He's in special classes now. It pains me to watch him struggle. Sometimes it makes me feel guilty that I flourished.
I always knew I wanted to become a doctor and to practice in my community. Since there were no medical schools in Alaska, I worried it could not be my path. The lower 48 was an option. Top Alaskan Native students get snapped up by Ivy Leagues on full scholarship. But I didn’t want to be the “exotic” student, one of a handful of Natives. My mom was also dealing with chronic health issues so I was hesitant to be too far away. So imagine my happiness when UA opened the Alaska School of Medicine, first in the state, with specialties in both rural health and medical humanities. An accelerated BA/MD program would enable me, in six years, to earn both degrees. Financial support from my regional Native corporation covers tuition and expenses, while academic and emotional support from ANSEP, which I have been active with since high school, keeps me focused.
During my second year at UA, my childhood best friend started having a difficult time, was drinking, became pregnant, kept drinking, and her baby boy died at birth. I was going to be his godmother. That was a pivotal moment. I’d known I would practice rural medicine, but now I wanted to conduct research as well, specializing in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Alaska has fantastic rural health care but FAS is a massive problem, not just with Native communities, although it hits there hard.
Taking advantage of UA’s world-renowned Troth Yeddha' Indigenous Studies Center, I’m focusing on Ethnomedicine, and studying fields as varied as Native Culture and Languages (beyond my own), Oral History, Sociology, and Fiction Writing, in addition to Neurobiology, Epidemiology, and Genetics. Storytelling is such an important part of our Native culture, so to be the best doctor and researcher I can, I’ll need to be as good at decoding stories as I am at decoding labs. UA has been very supportive of my work and made it easy for me to combine interests and shape my academic experience.
Next year I’ll start clinical training both in Anchorage and at rural hospitals. I’ll get a lot of hands-on training. I just submitted a proposal for research at Fairbanks campus on preventative storytelling—studying the interplay between culture, narrative, epigenetics, physiology, and alcoholism to find new interventions for FAS.
Although my main impetus is to improve rural health and lower FAS rates in Alaska, I’m also working to export what I’ve learned about FAS and storytelling to other contexts, and be able to apply my findings to other abused substances like opioids.
It’s a big goal, I know. But somehow everything, and everyone, at UA makes it seem not only possible but a foregone conclusion. I really enjoy this program, the friends I’m making, the support, and how each day is a new opportunity for my head to spin with ideas. I hope to make my community proud.