Alaska Track Structure
The Alaska Track is a three year residency program focused on primary care and rural medicine. Each year, residents spend eight months in Seattle and the other four months in Alaska. Over the three years of residency, residents experience a full calendar year in Alaska, from snowy winters to summers of endless sunshine.
The time in Alaska is focused on ambulatory rotations in two different practice settings. The sites are paired so that each resident spends two months in a setting that serves Alaska Native communities (Bethel or ANMC) and two months in a setting that serves the general population (Fairbanks or LaTouche). Rotations take place at one Anchorage site and one site outside of Anchorage, either Bethel or Fairbanks. Pediatricians in each location supervise and mentor residents, and the residents have weekly didactic sessions via video teleconference with the program directors and local pediatricians and subspecialists. The paired sites are listed below.
Bethel/LaTouche Pediatrics
Bethel: Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation
Bethel is a town located along the Kuskokwim River in Southwestern Alaska. The community in Bethel and the surrounding villages are majority Alaska Native, primarily of Yup’ik identity. The town serves as the hub for the 50+ surrounding villages, across an area the size of Oregon. Residents spend most of their time in the outpatient clinics and see complex patients from around the region. Residents also spend time on the inpatient unit working with Health Aides to care for children remotely in their villages. Second and third year residents have the opportunity to travel to a village for a week of field clinic. Residents also started and help to run a Youth Clinic in Bethel, near the regional High School where adolescents can access confidential care. This site provides residents an opportunity to work with experienced pediatricians to build on the community strengths in this highly underserved area to improve the health of a high-risk population.
Anchorage: LaTouche Pediatrics
LaTouche Pediatrics is the largest private pediatric clinic in Anchorage. The practice sees newborn infants in local nurseries and follows children through adolescence. The patient population of LaTouche Pediatrics is reflective of the population of Anchorage as a whole. This practice has a leadership role in the medical communities throughout the state, and residents have been able to take a role in those opportunities.
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Fairbanks/Alaska Native Medical Center
Fairbanks: Tanana Valley Clinic
Fairbanks is the most northern city of its size in the United States. It is the regional hub for Interior Alaska, home of wild blueberries, hot springs, and the Aurora Borealis. Tanana Valley Clinic Pediatrics (TVC) provides full-spectrum pediatric care to the residents of Fairbanks and the surrounding towns. Residents work at all levels of pediatric care including the outpatient clinic, inpatient pediatrics, emergency room consults, newborn nursery, and a level 2 NICU. This setting allows residents a high level of independence and the ability to follow patients from the inpatient to the outpatient setting.
Anchorage: Alaska Native Medical Center
Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC) is the referral tertiary hospital for the Tribal Health System in the State of Alaska. ANMC offers a complete spectrum of pediatric care, including a large outpatient pediatric clinic, inpatient pediatrics, a pediatric subspecialty clinic and pediatric/neonatal intensive care. Residents primarily work at Southcentral Foundation’s Field Health Clinic caring for Alaska Native children from across Alaska with complex medical issues who come to Anchorage for pediatric and subspecialty services. Southcentral Foundation developed the Nuka System of Care (Nuka), which is a relationship-based, customer-owned approach to transforming health care, improving outcomes and reducing costs.
