From West Virginia to the Last Frontier

When physicians graduate from Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine (JCESOM), it is exciting to watch them chase their dreams and change lives in different areas of the country.

Three of them have journeyed to Alaska, where they not only are treating patients who live in the beautifully rugged — if not occasionally dangerous — Alaskan climate and landscape, but are also enjoying, to the hilt, all that Alaska has to offer.

Neurologists Scot Hines, MD, George Banks, MD, and Dr. Banks’ wife, pediatrician Chelsea Banks (née Gilliam), MD, all graduates of the JCESOM, found their way to Alaska. Each will tell you that they feel like they hit the jackpot, both in their choice of medical school and in the lives and careers they’ve landed up north.

“Living in Alaska is a blast,” said Dr. George Banks (’16). “We live across the street from the Chugach Mountains and can hike and ski from our house. Like many Alaskans, I love outdoor activities like Nordic and backcountry skiing, chasing the northern lights, photographing wildlife, snow machines, fishing for salmon and halibut, hiking and trail running, mountain biking, pack rafting and kayaking and berry picking — all of which are accessible as day trips.”

As a resident physician at the University of Washington, Dr. George Banks did a rotation in Alaska, and Dr. Chelsea Banks (’18) joined him for part of it. They had been a couple since their undergraduate years at McGill University.

“We went to Anchorage in the winter and loved it,” Dr. Chelsea Banks said. “We saw cross-country skiing, the Iditarod sled dog race, numerous moose and plenty of snow in just a short visit. I said, ‘We have to live here.’”

Dr. George Banks completed a fellowship in neuromuscular medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, and Dr. Chelsea Banks completed her pediatric residency at Oregon Health & Science University before they moved north. Today, they live in Anchorage, with twin boys Cooper and Luka. Dr. George Banks’ parents have also joined them in Alaska.

Dr. Hines graduated from Marshall’s medical school in 1985. In the years that followed, he and his then-wife, neurosurgeon Dr. Susanne Fix, traveled several times to Alaska.

“I had a lot of experiences in Alaska and really liked it; so when the opportunity arose for a practice in Alaska, we grabbed it and never regretted it,” Dr. Hines said. “It’s a lot like West Virginia — very outdoors-oriented — and the community is very supportive, like Huntington.”

Today, Dr. Hines and Dr. George Banks work at Alaska Native Medical Center. Dr. Hines also has a private practice with Dr. Fix, where he treats neurologic diseases such as epilepsy, headaches, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and stroke, while Dr. Fix is a neurosurgeon who primarily performs spine and brain surgeries. Dr. George Banks is also a neurologist for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), and both he and Dr. Hines serve as clinical instructors for the University of Washington for medical students and occasional residents who come to Alaska on rotation.

“I have a unique job,” Dr. George Banks said. “I essentially only see Alaska Native patients, as well as other American Indians who have moved to Alaska.”

His clinic and hospital are both funded in part by the Indian Health Service and could be described as a central hub for all Alaska Native patients. About 11 regional hospitals and clinics across Alaska refer Native patients to his clinics, where he treats them in the outpatient setting or through inpatient consultations for conditions like strokes. He also travels to regional village clinics.

“Most of my field clinics are directly accessible by Alaska Airlines flights, but a couple villages require bush planes or ferries,” Dr. George Banks said. “I cover the entire state of Alaska. I work in the northernmost neurology clinic in the world, in Utqiagvik, once or twice per year.”

Dr. Hines used to work in this clinic as well. The largest village Dr. George Banks flies to is Bethel, with a population of 6,276; the smallest is Klawock, a village of only 700.

“During my field clinics, I have seen all sorts of fun wildlife — polar bears, wolves, reindeer, muskox, whales — and incredible scenery like the northern lights, the Arctic Ocean and the islands of southeast Alaska,” Dr. George Banks said. “Many of my patients live a predominantly subsistence life. While most of my patients speak English, some of the elders only speak their Native language, most commonly Yup’ik.”

Dr. Chelsea Banks is a general pediatrician at the Alaska Center for Pediatrics, a private clinic in Anchorage.

“My job is much like that of other general pediatricians around the country, but it does differ in a few ways,” Dr. Chelsea Banks said. “We do take occasional consults and patients from rural areas around the state — sometimes having to navigate the reality of very limited resources. How can you get the right care for someone who lives in a village only accessible by flight? What if none of the treatments you wanted to order are available in town?”

Some families also wrestle with issues such as having few available pediatric subspecialists around. And respiratory infection season is “a force to be reckoned with,” Dr. Chelsea Banks said. However, all three said that their time at Marshall prepared them well.

“To start with, the Department of Neurology was awesome,” Dr. George Banks said. “I am a neurologist because of Dr. Justin Nolte (’07) and Dr. Paul Ferguson (’07). I know that department has expanded significantly since I was there as a student and now has a residency program, but I always remember how fun it was to work as a medical student directly with attending physicians. I really enjoyed my class of medical students and the personalities in my class, and I specifically will always be grateful to Marshall for accepting my wife two years later. To her credit, she is my smarter self.” The class size made Dr. George Banks feel comfortable asking questions, he added. “We had great mentors,” he said. “And the rural mission of Marshall, with outreach opportunities such as Marshall Medical Outreach, could not be better suited for Alaska. About half of my patients do not live on the road system.” “I love that Marshall is a small school that invests in its students,” Dr. Chelsea Banks said. “You can really get to know people there and know that they want to help you. Marshall set the framework for enjoying work where we are and pushing us to be the best generalists we can be.” Dr. Hines was in one of the earliest classes at Marshall’s medical school, graduating with just 36 students.

“Back then, it was one of the smallest medical schools in the country but was, no doubt, the best,” he said. “I went to Indiana — the second-largest — for my residency, and I was very comfortable with what I knew and what I could handle because I had done everything over and over and over again. Meanwhile, my contemporaries had watched over the shoulders of other people doing things.”

Dr. Hines said a key difference was that medical students were treated as “an important part of the team” at the JCESOM.

“We weren’t in the way or watching from the wings,” he recalled. “We had responsibilities, and what we were doing was important, in terms of patient management. They counted on us. So, we didn’t need encouragement to study — because what we were doing was vital.”

Dr. Hines has praised his Marshall experience so much that his daughter, Katie Steele, applied and is now a member of the School of Medicine Class of 2026. Steele’s husband anticipates graduating from the Marshall University Physician Assistant program in 2026 as well.

Dr. Hines and the Bankses have fond memories of Marshall and Huntington — but they all feel Alaska is where they are meant to be. It has its perils, of course.

“I’ve been churched a couple times by grizzly bears,” Dr. Hines said, adding that both occasions ended without serious incident. “But the scenery, wildlife, skiing, hiking, running, fishing — it’s all remarkable there.”

“We love living in Alaska,” Dr. Chelsea Banks said. “We have the best cross-country skiing you can imagine. There are endless mountains for backcountry skiing or backcountry adventures in general, if that’s your jam.” Living on “America’s Last Frontier” means that encounters with wildlife and natural wonders are part of everyday life. “We keep a tally of our moose and bear counts because we see them often,” Dr. Chelsea Banks said. “Sometimes we cross paths with Dall sheep, beluga whales and lynx. We’ve seen the aurora borealis more times than we can count. In fact, just last night we had a spectacular show above our house. Our freezer is full of salmon. We just enjoyed wild blueberries and cranberries in the tundra foliage with our babies.”

“As my colleague always says: ‘You don’t choose Alaska. It chooses you,’” Dr. George Banks said.

It’s hard to argue with that.

This story was published in the 2024/2025 edition of MarshallMedicine magazine. Read the complete issue here.