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Valerie Nuraaluk Davidson, president and chief executive officer of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, is “retiring” from her position after a three-year term, according to an all-staff communication sent to employees Tuesday. It is said that he did.
Natasha Singh, the consortium's executive vice president, will serve as interim president and CEO, according to a staff memo obtained by the Daily News. Singh has worked with Davidson for the past two years and is a former general counsel for the Tanana Council of Chiefs, an inland tribal organization, according to the memo. In her role, she helped oversee the construction of sub-regional and village health clinics as well as a joint venture to build and staff the Andrew Isaac Chief Health Center in Fairbanks, the memo said. There is.
It was not immediately clear why Davidson was leaving his position. Mr. Davidson and Mr. Singh could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The Tribal Health Consortium operates programs and services at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage in partnership with the Southcentral Foundation, a health organization serving Alaska Natives in much of southcentral Alaska.
The consortium is the largest tribal health organization in the United States and the second largest health employer in Alaska with more than 3,000 employees.
Operating revenue last year was $866 million, according to its 2023 annual report. The report notes that the consortium provides care at Alaska Native Medical Centers and specialty clinics, resulting in more than 53,000 emergency visits and 53,000 hospital days in 2023. , cited more than 31,000 specialty clinic procedures and 1,500 births.
Mr. Davidson was appointed President and CEO of the Consortium in 2021. She previously served as secretary of the former Alaska Department of Health and Human Services under then-Gov. Bill Walker, independent. She also briefly served as Walker State's lieutenant governor in 2018, making her the first Alaska Native woman to hold that position in the state.
During Davidson's tenure, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium improved financially and made two of the largest investments in health care facilities in its history, according to a memo sent to staff Tuesday. The consortium improved housing access for patients and he secured more than $1 billion to build sanitation systems in rural Alaska. According to the memo, this also improved the Alaska Native Medical Center Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital star rating for the first time in the hospital's history.
“Three years ago, Valerie was brought in to help the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium transition from a leadership crisis,” ANTHC board chair Kimberly Strong said in a memo to staff. “She brought stability to the organization and led us on a bright path to achieving our strategic goals.
“Valerie has supported the remarkable transformation of our organization, attracting new talent to our workforce, and making meaningful improvements, such as investments in the Alaska Native Medical Center’s emergency department, that are necessary to sustain this progress. We did,” Strong said.
[Alaska Native Medical Center begins expansion of emergency department amid growing pains]
“The board has full confidence in Natasha's ability to lead the organization during this period of transition,” Strong said in a staff-wide memo.
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