The Health Sciences Building at the Universty of Alaska Anchorage is seen on Oct. 31, 2025. The Health Sciences Building is part of UAA's College of Health. Dr. Jay Butler, a former senior official with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and former chief medical officer for the state of Alaska, is set to take over as the college's dean at the end of December. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
An Alaska and Arctic health veteran has been selected to head the College of Health at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Dr. Jay Butler, who is a nationally recognized expert in infectious diseases, will start his UAA position on Dec. 28, the university announced on Friday.
Butler has experience in state, federal and tribal governments. Most recently, he was deputy director for infectious diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. He held that position for six years. He left there in July, at a time when the CDC was being targeted for mass firings and cutbacks.
Before then, he served as Alaska’s chief medical officer, chief of the Alaska Division of Health’s epidemiology section and director of the CDC’s Arctic Investigations Program. He also worked as senior director of community health services for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, among other positions. And he served for 16 years as an affiliate professor at UAA’s WWAMI School of Medical Education, part of an educational partnership between Alaska, Washington, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. The program enables students in those states to get medical degrees, giving them options for studying at six different universities.
In a statement, UAA Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Denise Runge said Butler’s deep experience will be an asset to the College of Health.
“Dr. Butler joins UAA at an exciting time for our university,” Runge said in the statement. “His leadership and commitment to Alaska will be instrumental in strengthening UAA’s position as the state’s designated health university. We are thrilled to welcome him into a role supported by a strong team of faculty, staff and leaders within the College of Health.”
Butler’s work includes several years of research into influenza and other infectious diseases and their impact on Alaska Native people.
