The director of the Center for Alaska Native Health Research in Fairbanks has died. Sixty nine-year-old Dr Gerald Mohatt was remembered Thursday by friends and family as a great teacher who was passionate about his family and work. Dr. Mohatt died on Wednesday at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital after battling leukemia for the past four years. Colleagues say Mohatt, a University of Alaska Fairbanks psychology professor, is nationally known for his work with Alaska Natives and other indigenous people. Besides teaching at UAF, he was instrumental in developing the College of Rural Alaska and was the founding president of the first tribal college on the Lakota Souix Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. Bert Boyer worked with Mohatt at the Center and has known him for more than a decade. He says Mohatt taught him to respect indigenous knowledge.
Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage
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