Frontier Physician: The Life and Legacy of Dr. C. Earl Albrecht

by Nancy Jordan

Young Dr. C. Earl Albrecht arrived in Alaska during the Great Depression, the sole physician to a remote colony of impoverished farm families. At the Palmer colony he delivered babies, treated diseases, performed emergency surgery, built a new hospital, then raised money to keep the hospital open. Albrecht became Alaska’s first full-time commissioner of health under territorial Gov. Ernest Gruening. Deeply concerned about the health of Alaska’s Natives, he all but eradicated tuberculosis in the Bush, created programs to teach nutrition and sanitation in rural villages, and won the right for Natives to be treated at Alaska hospitals. The International Union for Circumpolar Health he helped found in 1967 is now the definitive organization that facilitates and coordinates health research in the world’s arctic and subarctic regions. "Frontier Physician" chronicles the life and legacy of a caring, vigilant doctor who ranks among Alaska’s great leaders.

Genres: Biography

222 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996