Team Organization

The Healthy Alaskans Statewide Health Improvement Plan is updated by teams of partners from different sectors across the state. There are five primary Healthy Alaskans teams who assist with the development and implementation: the Steering team, Advisory team, Core team, Data team, and Communications team. There are also subject-matter teams who come together during the development of new health objectives. These teams consist of experts in the field and can give accurate local, national and best practice information for objective, target and strategy setting.

The Steering Team:

The Steering team consists of the top leadership from the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and the State of Alaska Department of Health. As part of the partnership between the organizations and their financial contribution to the plan, the Steering team secures and oversees this budget and its spending authority. This team is also the final decision-making body for the major reports and deliverables, assisting with any major issues or policy conflicts. They act as champions of the plan and help to distribute the findings of the plan across their organizations and partners.

The Advisory Team:

The Advisory team is made up of approximately 40 professionals from the broader public health arena in Alaska who are subject matter experts in topics that span the entire spectrum of public health services and functions including nonprofit, state, Tribal, private and other entities working in environmental health issues, injury prevention, mental health, housing, chronic disease and other public health areas. Their role is to make expert recommendations during the development of each iteration of the state health improvement plan, providing input on the framework, health priority topics, objectives, timetable, deliverables, and resources. The advisory team provides recommendations on reports, promotes the plan among their networks and colleagues, and support the implementation of the plan.

In 2022, the State of Alaska implemented a Healthy and Equitable Communities Strategic Plan focused on addressing health inequity issues associated with COVID-19 – supported by funding from the CDC Foundation and led by the State of Alaska Division of Public Health. The Healthy and Equitable Communities Plan was designed to partner with Alaska communities to improve conditions that support health and well-being, especially for community members who face significant barriers to better health. The timeline for implementation of the Healthy and Equitable Communities Strategic Plan is 2021 to 2025.

The Healthy and Equitable Communities Committee (HECC) and the Healthy Alaskans (HA) Advisory Team have integrated into one team, supporting and advising work toward shared Healthy Alaskans objectives, strategies and actions. The joint team charter and the application to become a member of the HECC or HA Advisory Team is linked below followed by the 2022 Healthy Alaskans Advisory Team Roster.

The Core Team

The Core team is made up of approximately 10 professionals who represent various expertise within the two backbone entities, ANTHC and DOH. The Core team is led by the two Co-Chairs and oversees the timeline of HA activities which form the framework for the statewide health improvement plan. The Core team helps to facilitate development of the Healthy Alaskans plan to align efforts statewide and makes recommendations on how to move the HA effort forward based on input from the Advisory Team and communicates with the Steering Team which makes final decisions. Their role is also to participate in outreach and communication efforts statewide to increase knowledge and awareness of Healthy Alaskans among stakeholders and the public, and encourage partners to align their efforts with the Healthy Alaskans objectives and promote the use of the evidence-based strategies and best practices listed in the plan.

The Data Team

The Data team consists of epidemiologists and statisticians from both ANTHC and DOH. Their role is to monitor the Healthy Alaskans objectives data throughout the year and create an end of the year scorecard to show annual progress. The Data Team supports the Core team, Advisory team, Steering team, and the public in understanding the scorecards and the data being reported for each health objective. The Data team also helps to create resources for the public and the HA teams to work with the data.

The Communications Team

The Communications team is made up of members from both the ANTHC marketing department and the State of Alaska DOH public information team. Their role is to promote the Healthy Alaskans plan and serve as a media and communications resource to HA2030 Teams. They support outreach and education activities as well as provide updates using the HA2030 website, social media sites, and state media outlets.