Katie Cueva

On Thursday, February 25 from 12-1 pm, join us for a discussion on what UAA researchers have found on how contact tracing has impacted COVID-19 transmission, strategies for reaching out to vulnerable Alaskans, and plans to hear community voices on the impacts of COVID-19 in the Arctic.

On Thursday, January 28 join us for a discussion on what UAA researchers have found on how COVID-19 has impacted mask wearing in Anchorage, fishing decisions in Bristol Bay and how rural Alaskans describe their experience with the pandemic.

Faculty from UAA, including ISER’s Katie Cueva, have been working since the spring to describe the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual’s behavior, inform policy decisions, and predict case counts and contact tracing workforce needs.

ISER faculty are working to inform the Municipality of Anchorage's COVID-19 efforts through a partnership between ISER, the UAA Division of Population Health Sciences, and the UAA College of Arts and Sciences. The group is involved in three distinct projects. First, Dr. Cueva, Dr. DeFeo, and Dr. Berry contributed to a series of publications focusing on specific areas in which the pandemic has impacted Anchorage and its residents, with recommendations for monitoring further impacts and potential responses/interventions. Of the published papers, Dr. Cueva and Dr. DeFeo took the lead on Education; considering the pandemic’s effect on early childhood, K12, and postsecondary systems, they noted the impacts of school and facility closures on students and communities, and provided recommendations to limit negative outcomes and plan for the future. Dr. Berry authored a paper on the economic impact of the hunker down order.

ISER researcher and Alaska Public Health Association board member Katie Cueva shared evaluation findings (PDF, 513KB) from cancer education work with Alaska's Community Health Aides/Practitioners (CHAPS) at the 2019 Alaska Health Summit in Anchorage, January 22-24. In the session, "The Relationship between Body Weight and Cancer Risk in Alaska," Dr. Cueva discussed how "learners'" end-of-module surveys in a CHAPS cancer education online program indicated that participating in an online cancer education module on physical activity, nutrition, and cancer, helped "learners" feel more comfortable talking about cancer in their communities, helped "learners" to talk about cancer more often with their patients, and supported "learners" to plan to reduce their own cancer risk by things like moving more and eating healthier. CHAPS is part of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.