ABSTRACT
This chapter tracks the history of the Alaska Siberia Medical Research Program, a scientific alliance between biomedical researchers at the University of Alaska-Anchorage and the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences that began in 1987. For medical scientists, the Program offered a unique opportunity to study Indigenous Peoples in Alaska and Siberia as a single population. But, the Program's primary purpose was diplomatic. The Program's founders aimed to use scientific collaboration to overcome Cold War boundaries, a goal that won them the allegiance of powerful Alaska Indigenous leaders and the praise of Alaskan politicians.
