Bringing health care into focus: Jay Butler is UAA’s new College of Health Dean

In the early '90s, Jay Butler was fresh out of clinical training at Emory University and working at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) when he was offered a unique opportunity with the Arctic Investigations Program in Anchorage.

"We visited, we thought, this looks very livable to us," said Butler. "So five kids, three dogs, a couple of cats - everything moved. We moved it all to Anchorage." His story mirrors so many: drawn from the Lower 48 by a job opportunity, and more than 30 years later, Alaska is home, and he is rooted in the 49th state with kids and grandkids.

Butler's deep connection to Alaska, paired with his extensive background in public health, infectious disease and health care leadership, made him the perfect fit as UAA's new College of Health (COH) dean. Butler officially stepped into the role Dec. 28, bringing decades of experience - and has hit the ground running.

Before joining UAA, Butler, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Doctor of Medicine) and North Carolina State University (Bachelor of Science in zoology), built a distinguished career in public health and infectious disease.

"Being a part of UAA is exciting, because it's kind of coming full circle into thinking through how we provide better health for Alaskans, both preventative and therapeutic," he said.

As an infectious disease physician boarded in internal medicine, pediatrics and infectious diseases, Butler has spent decades shaping health care in Alaska and at the national levels - from directing the Arctic Investigations Program to serving as Alaska's chief medical officer and state epidemiologist, to most recently serving as deputy director for Infectious Disease at the CDC. Additionally, Butler also served as an affiliate professor in UAA's WWAMI School of Medical Education from 2008-19.

Butler's approach to public health care is squarely rooted in Alaska's unique health care landscape. What worked in Atlanta doesn't always translate to the far North, and Butler learned to adapt health care trends to fit the state and its people's needs.

"The data coming out of Atlanta and Helsinki are not always applicable to Alaska," Butler said, recalling a time when an unexpected outbreak happened during his time at the CDC. "So we have to be able to generate our own data." That perspective is what is driving Butler's vision forward in his mission to push COH to the forefront of Alaska's health care and biomedical research. With COH's breadth of programs from doctorate to master's to baccalaureates to associates to certificate programs, Butler sees UAA and COH uniquely positioned to address both the local and Arctic health landscapes now and in the decades to come.

On a larger scale, Butler is leaning into UAA's dual-mission focus to address Alaska's health care workforce needs and will be central to his leading COH in the years to come.

"I like the concept that seems to embrace the culture of learning - it's an ongoing process," Butler said. "We can also reinvent ourselves as we develop new interests, and bring those experiences that we gained earlier in our lives into a new career and apply it." Additionally, Butler said being attuned to different areas of the state is crucial, highlighting the importance of providing health care practitioners with cultural competence to meet the needs of all Alaskans in our state.

Butler emphasized the importance of supporting Alaska Native students and building partnerships with tribal health systems and the business community. "It's important that Alaska Native students feel at home at UAA as our Anchorage campus resides on the traditional lands of Dena'ina people," he said. "Deep inside, everyone knows that a healthy workforce is a more productive workforce, and we'll help achieve everybody's goals."

With his decades of experience, Alaska roots and commitment to educating and helping the next generation of health care workers, Butler is poised to guide COH through its next chapter. Butler sees UAA not just as a place to train clinicians, researchers and public health care leaders but also as a hub for innovation, collaboration and solutions tailored to Alaska's unique needs.

"Our goal is to provide the right practitioner in the right place at the right time," Butler said. For him, the work is both professional and personal - a chance to give back to a state that has been home for more than 30 years, and where he hopes he can continue making a difference in the health and care of Alaskans for decades to come.