Jack E. Hickel (born October 1, 1950, in Anchorage, Alaska) is an American physician and humanitarian.
Biography
Hickel was born in
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...
, the fourth of six children (all sons) of
Wally Hickel, former United States Secretary of the Interior under President Richard Nixon and two-time governor of Alaska. His mother was
Ermalee Hickel
Ermalee Hickel (September 11, 1925 – September 14, 2017) was an American public figure and philanthropist who served as the second and seventh First Lady of Alaska from 1966 to 1969 and again from 1990 to 1994. She was the wife of the former Go ...
, noted Alaska humanitarian. He is married to Josie Hickel, president of commercial holdings for
Chugach Alaska Corporation
Chugach Alaska Corporation, or CAC, is one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Chugach Alaska Corporation was incorporated ...
.
A graduate of the
University of Washington School of Medicine, Hickel spent 15 years during the 1980s and 1990s as a medical missionary in
Swaziland
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...
. In 1997, he returned to his home state of Alaska where he continues to practice as a family physician with the
Alaska Native Medical Center.
After a 2007 visit to the village of Old Fangak, Sudan (now
South Sudan), Hickel helped found the Alaska Sudan Medical Project (ASMP). Incorporated in 2008, the ASMP drills wells, offers training, promotes agriculture, and provides health care in an area suffering under years of ongoing civil wars. In 2013, the ASMP achieved a primary goal with the construction of a new village clinic.
In recent years, Hickel has also been an active member of Alaska's Permanent Fund Defenders, a non-partisan and non-profit advocacy group to the defense of the
Alaska Permanent Fund, which preserves and shares income from Alaska's natural resources for all residents. Among his advocacy efforts, Hickel has written several editorials in defense of the Permanent Fund and the preservation of the Fund's annual dividend to all Alaskans.
References
External links
Permanent Fund DefendersAlaska Sudan Medical Project
1950 births
People from Anchorage, Alaska
Writers from Alaska
Living people
University of Washington School of Medicine alumni
Physicians from Alaska
Activists from Alaska
American humanitarians
{{US-physician-stub