When Alaska Health and Social Services Commissioner Valerie Davidson parked her car in downtown Anchorage Monday and walked to the swanky Hotel Captain Cook for a meeting with prominent policymakers, she did what she always does when walking by down-and-out people living on the street.

“I looked at every single person that I passed,” Davidson told the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. “And, as always, I was looking for my sister.”

Davidson said her sister, a “brilliant” woman who has worked at various levels of state government, struggles with addiction and has been “homeless for years.”

“How heartbreaking it is to know I’m in the position I’m in and have all the resources in the world, and yet I can’t help her,” said Davidson, an attorney and veteran of tribal health organizations who was appointed commissioner last year by Gov. Bill Walker.

The U.S. Arctic Research Commission, which advises the president and Congress on Arctic science policy, is grappling with the task of setting priorities for mental-health and behavioral-health research.

To read the rest of this story by Yereth Rosen, go to: https://www.adn.com/article/20...health-issues-arctic