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Staff members are listed here in chronological order
according to the date they first came to ACAT.
Pamela K. Miller is a European-American, and
ACAT’s founder and executive director. She has twenty-five
years of experience in marine research, education, and
environmental health advocacy. She holds a masters degree in
environmental science (Miami University, Oxford Ohio, 1981),
and served for seven years as a research biologist for
Greenpeace, organizing in communities throughout Alaska to
stop offshore oil and gas development, and to address toxics
problems from oil development, mining, and military
contamination. In 1994, she founded the Cook Inlet Keeper
and served on the executive committee of the board for six
years. At that time, she also established for Greenpeace the
Community Toxics Investigative and Advocacy Project, but
three years later when Greenpeace leaders switched their
focus to global climate change, Pam chose to leave the
organization in order to keep commitments she had made to
people who were asking for help with toxics. She founded
ACAT in December 1997.
In 2003, Pam received an award from the Air Toxics Summit of
Region 10, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for advocacy
work at St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. She was nominated by
two Tribal Environmental Coordinators for the Maniilaq
Association in Kotzebue. A national selection committee
administered by the Common Counsel Foundation awarded her a
(highly competitive) two-week stay in 2003 at Windcall
Residency Program in Montana, a rest and recreation program
at a retreat center for leaders for social change. In 2001,
Pam received the Olaus Murie Award for Outstanding
Professional Contribution, Alaska’s highest honor for
conservation professionals.
Before coming to Alaska, Pam served as Ocean Issues
Technical Coordinator for the State of Washington Department
of Ecology, receiving the Washington State Governor’s
Environmental Excellence Award (1990). She protected the
Washington state coast from offshore oil development and
military weapons testing (including bombing) by establishing
the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. In Washington
she served as Director of the Nisqually Reach Nature Center.
In the Florida Keys, she taught college and did research for
the Harbor Branch Institution.
Lorraine Eckstein, Ph.D. is a cultural
anthropologist (European-American) who volunteered as a
technical writer and researcher first at Greenpeace
(beginning 1993) and then at ACAT. In 2000 she joined the
ACAT staff as a Research Anthropologist, and supports most
projects with her analytical, research, administrative, and
technical writing skills. Lorraine has thirty-two years of
research experience with expertise in the application of
economic, sociological, and psychological models. She
specializes in values and focus group analysis, interview
techniques, questionnaire design, ethics with human subjects
research, medical research, and investigative report
writing. Before coming to ACAT, Lorraine taught college and
owned writing and research businesses (including jury
consultation). She holds a doctorate from the University of
Washington in Seattle (1990), a masters degree from
Washington University in St. Louis (1979), and a bachelors
degree from the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Lorraine
is semi-retired, so much of her full-time work for ACAT is
given pro bono.
Lydia Darby is a European-American who began
working for ACAT on an ad hoc basis in 1999, coordinating
activities and conducting research. In 2003 she joined the
staff working part-time first as Research Assistant and
Garden Facilitator and more recently as Wellness and Healing
Organizer. She serves as liaison to Alaskans for
Environmental Responsibility (AFER) in our collaborative
efforts to support the Exxon Valdez oil spill workers who
are sick as a result of exposures to hazardous chemicals
during their cleanup efforts, and to the White Raven Center
and HealthMed in our collaborative efforts to establish an
environmental health center in Anchorage. Lydia is a trainer
for ACAT’s Democracy School opened in 2006 in conjunction
with Dr. Riki Ott of AFER. Lydia served Alaskans as an
advocate for the poor for thirty years, operating a free
food/clothing distribution center in her backyard in
Anchorage, and disbursing truck loads of free fish from
hatcheries at a variety of locations throughout the state.
She reared and home schooled her children often in their
remote cabin off the road system and sometimes in their home
in Anchorage. When our work at ACAT becomes stressful, Lydia
emphasizes healing and wellness.
Shawna M. Larson is aligned with two Alaska
Native groups. She is Ahtna Athabascan (Indian) from
Chickaloon Village on her father’s side, and Supiaq
(Aleut/Eskimo) from the village of Port Graham on her
mother’s side. From July 2000 for two years, she worked as
lead organizer for ACAT’s Northern Contaminants and Health
Program. In 2002, Shawna became ACAT’s Environmental Justice
Coordinator, and in 2005 ACAT’s Environmental Justice
Program Director. The Indigenous Environmental Network (a
North American organization located in Minnesota) helps
support this position. Since coming to ACAT, Shawna has
established an international reputation because of her
successful efforts to garner support for the U.N. treaty to
eliminate twelve of the most deadly chemicals worldwide. She
was identified as one of thirty young U.S. visionaries by
the Utne Reader (Sept-Oct 2002 issue). She was selected to
the prestigious Environmental Leadership Program for 2004.
Shawna was effective in establishing programs in hospitals
and clinics throughout Alaska for safe disposal of medical
waste. She is one of the trainers for the Democracy School
in Alaska. She served on the Traditional Council of the
Village of Chickaloon, where she was elected to the
executive committee as Secretary. Before coming to ACAT,
Shawna was a youth representative to the International
Indian Treaty Council.
Jesse Gologergen is a bilingual Yupik Eskimo
who lives in the Village of Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island.
He has been working part-time for ACAT since 2000 as Field
Researcher conducting health and environmental studies for
ACAT’s projects on the Island. He worked as a health aide
for his village and served as Mayor of the City of Savoonga.
In the past five years, he has traveled extensively
representing ACAT and St. Lawrence Island on environmental
justice issues.
Jane Kava is a trilingual Inupiat Eskimo who
came as a new bride to St. Lawrence Island twenty years ago
to live with her Yupik husband. She served as a health aide,
and currently she is the Mayor of the City of Savoonga. She
has been working part-time for ACAT since 2000 as Health
Researcher, conducting health studies for ACAT’s projects on
the Island and representing St. Lawrence Island and ACAT at
environmental justice meetings in New York, Memphis
(Tennessee), and Vieques (Puerto Rico).
Viola Waghiyi is a bilingual Yupik Eskimo who
was born and raised for the first eight years in the Village
of Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. As a child, she
moved to Nome with her parents where they kept their close
connections to St. Lawrence Island and continued to speak
Siberian-Yupik in their home. She was hired in 2002 to work
in Anchorage coordinating the St. Lawrence Island
environmental health and justice project. When ACAT’s work
on the Island expanded in 2005 to include thirteen Native
villages in the Norton Sound region, Viola’s title was also
changed to Environmental Justice Community Organizer. In her
work with ACAT, Viola has been sought out repeatedly to
speak at national and international meetings about military
toxics in rural villages, the long-range transport of
pollutants to the north, and body burdens of chemicals in
the people of St. Lawrence Island. Viola brought to ACAT
fifteen years of experience in a variety of positions in
Nome, Seattle, and Anchorage. She managed a small history
museum, screened potential employees for a health
organization, kept the books for a Japanese-owned import
company, and served as a senior window clerk for the U.S.
Post Office.
Geraldine Slwooka is a bilingual Yupik Eskimo
who was born and reared in the village of Gambell on St.
Lawrence Island. She served her community as a village
police officer, an aide in the schools, and village health
aide. She has been working for ACAT part-time since 2003 as
Health Researcher in Gambell.
Morgan Apatiki is a bilingual Yupik Eskimo who
lives in the village of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island. He
served as Community Liaison to the Army Corps of Engineers
and is knowledgeable about the environment and contamination
problems in Gambell. He has been working for ACAT part-time
since 2003 as Field Researcher in Gambell.
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Important Updates
Alaskans
Tested for Toxic Chemicals in Products—Results Reveal
Contamination from Chemicals in Everyday Products
New Report:
“Is It In Us?
Chemical Contamination of Our Bodies—Toxic Trespass,
Regulatory Failure, and Opportunities for Action”—
35 people from seven
states, including Alaska, were tested for 20 toxic
chemicals.
Results,
Executive Summary, participants, and full report can be
found at
www.isitinus.org
For Immediate Release—News Advisory for November 8, 2007
Media Briefing (10 AM at the Loussac Library in
Anchorage)
New Fact Sheets on Toxic Chemicals,
Health Effects, and Alternatives!
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Bisphenol A
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Phthalates
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Brominated Flame Retardants—PBDEs
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