National 2007 Rural Health Fellow

Dr. Rhonda Johnson, Associate Professor of Public Health and Chair of the Department of Health Sciences, will participate in the inaugural class for the National Rural Health Association's Rural Health Fellows Program. After the completion of a competitive review process, fifteen fellows from around the nation were selected for this yearlong, intensive program aimed at developing leaders who can articulate a clear and compelling vision for rural America.

Dr. Johnson has extensive experience in rural health. A former Peace Corps Volunteer and 1988 graduate of the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing, she first came to Alaska in 1992 as a tribal health contractor (primary care provider and clinic director). She completed her doctoral studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 2001, evaluating a national demonstration project to improve the health care response to domestic violence in Alaska. She currently directs the distance-delivered graduate program in public health at UAA.