Karen Perdue

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 ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æn with a background in health care, public policy and maintains
interests in the ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ and culture of ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ.
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 ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ's rural and urban communities. She served a decade as the Associate Vice President of Health Programs at the University of ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ, 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 ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ’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 ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ Fairbanks. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Rural Mental Health Association Victor Howery Award and the ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ Historical Society for her role in the Lost ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æns Morningside Project, which traced the ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ of mental health care in territorial ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ and the ancestral information of over 5,000 ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æns sent outside of ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ for care. She has been honored by both the Girl and Boy Scouts as a Distinguished Citizen.
Photo by JR Ancheta, University of ÐÓ°ÉÔ°æ Fairbanks