Emery A. Johnson, the longest serving director of the Indian Health Service, died of cancer on June 26. He was 78.

Johnson ran the IHS from 1969 to 1981. Prior to that, he served as a reservation staff physician in Winnebago, Nebraska, and in White Earth, Minnesota [Bio].

During his tenure, Johnson oversaw major changes in the delivery of health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives. He advocated for tribal self-determination and the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

"He's kind of an icon in Indian country," Jackie Johnson, the executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, told The Washington Post.

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Emery A. Johnson, 78; Headed Indian Health Service (The Washington Post 7/6)
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