Center for Alaska Native Health Research
2141 Koyukuk Drive
205 Arctic Health Research Building
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7000

Phone: 907-474-5528

1-888-470-5576 toll-free within Alaska

Fax: 907-474-5700

uaf-iab-canhr@alaska.edu

What's in your fish? Researcher studies contaminants and nutrients

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Fairbanks, AK, Jan. 21, 2013

By Diana Campbell
Center for Alaska Native Health Research

Todd O’Hara was only looking for tiny pieces of fish for his contaminant and nutrient study. 

But people were interested in his research. Cup’ik people who live near the sea have a wide variety of food available, and they brought whole salmon, halibut, seal, as well as bowls of greens to O’Hara’s door.

“Their generosity overwhelmed us,” said O’Hara, who is an associate professor of wildlife toxicology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and researcher at the Center for Alaska Native Health Research. 
 

“They were amazing,” he said. “We were up all night getting them ready for shipping and testing.”