ÎçÒ¹AV

Karen Perdue

Regent, Treasurer of the Board

204 Front Street Fairbanks, AK 99701

Term: 2017-2033

Karen Perdue, treasurer of the board, was reappointed to her second term by Governor Dunleavy. She is a lifelong ÎçÒ¹AVn with a background in health care, public policy and maintains interests in the history and culture of ÎçÒ¹AV.

Regent Perdue is a graduate of Stanford University. She is semi-retired, focusing her work on critical public health issues and serves on the board of the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital Foundation.

In her career, she has advocated for increased access to healthcare in ÎçÒ¹AV's rural and urban communities. She served a decade as the Associate Vice President of Health Programs at the University of ÎçÒ¹AV, in that role she worked with industry, chancellors and faculty in the expansion of the nursing, medical education, pharmacy, therapies and behavioral health academic programs.

She served as Commissioner of ÎçÒ¹AV’s Department of Health and Social Services for eight years - the longest serving health commissioner since statehood.  

She served as a congressional aide and press secretary to Senator Ted Stevens.

In 2017, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of Laws from the University of ÎçÒ¹AV Fairbanks. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Rural Mental Health Association Victor Howery Award and the ÎçÒ¹AV Historical Society for her role in the Lost ÎçÒ¹AVns Morningside Project, which traced the history of mental health care in territorial ÎçÒ¹AV and the ancestral information of over 5,000 ÎçÒ¹AVns sent outside of ÎçÒ¹AV for care. She has been honored by both the Girl and Boy Scouts as a Distinguished Citizen.

Photo by JR Ancheta, University of ÎçÒ¹AV Fairbanks