Two research assistant professors join CANHR

September 11, 2020

University Relations

Two new research assistant professors have joined the Center for Alaska Native Health Research.

Photo courtesy of KyungSook Lee.
Photo courtesy of KyungSook Lee.


KyungSook Lee has a broad background in quantitative social science, with training in theoretical and applied statistics and a concentration in community-based research projects among American Indian and Alaska Native children and children at risk. She brings expertise in advanced statistical analyses including longitudinal analysis, structural equation modeling, psychometrics, multilevel and mixed-effects models, and complex samples.

Lee's specific research interests are in community-based research related to education, health status improvement for communities and children’s behavioral health. She is also interested in exploring the sustainability of complex problems within social and human behavioral systems using system science methods.

Photo courtesy of Jacques Philip.
Photo courtesy of Jacques Philip.


Dr. Jacques Philip was educated in Paris as a doctor, and later made Alaska his home to pursue his passion for dog mushing. Jacques rekindled his scientific interests by joining the Center for Alaska Native Health Research at UAF in 2008, and subsequently completed graduate training in statistics and epidemiology at UAF and the University of Michigan. During that time, he focused his research interest on social determinants of health and the prevention of health disparities among Alaska Native people.

Philip later obtained funding from the National Institutes for Health to develop and evaluate prevention programs in rural Alaska Native communities using community-based participatory research approaches.