Company/Organization profile
The Center for Alaska Native Health Research was established in 2001 through a five-year grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health through the National Center for Research Resources to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In 2007 the NIH renewed the Center’s grant for $11 million for another five years to build on CANHR’s research findings on obesity and its relationship to diabetes and cardiovascular disease among Alaska Native people
CANHR Mission
“Building relationships and research-based knowledge to improve the health of Alaska Native people.”
Prevention and reduction of health disparities
CANHR seeks new knowledge through basic and applied research that can lead to understanding, preventing, and reducing health disparities in indigenous communities.
Cultural processes awareness
The center’s researchers study how cultural variables influence the understanding of disease expression in Alaska Native people so that research findings and intervention are valid and culturally appropriate.
Community-based participatory research framework
CANHR researchers work closely with, and take significant direction from, indigenous communities. Tribal community members become co-researchers.