Obituaries 2015

IN 2014 (NOT INCLUDED IN 2014 LIST IN JAN-FEB 2015 NIH CATALYST)

William C. Hardy, Sr. (died March 25, 2014, age 98) was a research technician at NCI for 25 years.

William R. Lynn (died November 18, 2014, age 68) was a federal health officer who helped manage antismoking efforts for NIH and the Office of the Surgeon General. He was a health officer in Indiana and Massachusetts before joining NCI in 1979. Among his projects, he helped run two of the nation’s first community-based antismoking initiatives—COMMIT and ASSIST. He also edited Surgeon General C. Everett Koop’s report on the effects of secondhand smoke and helped hire celebrities, including Brooke Shields and Mia Hamm, as antismoking spokespersons.

J. Frederic “Fred” Mushinski (died December 18, 2014, age 76) was the head of the Molecular Genetics Section in the NCI Laboratory of Genetics and the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics from the late 1960s until 2009.

Vinson “Vinse” Romero Oviatt (died December 13, 2014, age 88) was chief of the Environmental Safety Branch in the Division of Research Services (1969–1979); then joined the World Health Organization; returned to NIH in 1987 to become assistant director of the Division of Safety; and retired a few years later.

William J. Zukel (died July 10, 2014, age 92), who served in several capacities at NHLBI including as deputy director, retired from the Public Health Service in 1988.

IN 2015

Sam Baron (died June 22, 2015, age 86), a leader in the field of interferon research, was a scientist at NIH from 1955 to 1975 (first in the Division of Biological Standards, a precursor to the FDA branch at NIH, and later in NIAID’s Laboratory of Viral Diseases). After he left NIH, he was chairman of the Microbiology Department at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston until 1997 and retired as professor of microbiology emeritus in 2007. He continued his research in his own lab and as a volunteer scientist at FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation (2002–2003), at NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (2003–2004), and in NIAID’s Cytokine Biology Section (2004–2015).

Linda Brown (died October 25, 2015, age 73) worked in NIH’s Medical Arts Department for 48 years, first as a general illustrator, then as chief of the Design Section, and for the past 17 years as creative services director. For decades, she ensured that NIH’s world-class science was represented by world-class art—including lecture, event, and campaign posters that both won awards and became collectors’ items.

Allen W. Cheever (died August 29, 2015, age 83), a leading expert in schistosomiasis, devoted his 35-year career in the Public Health Service to conducting research at NIH. He joined the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 1964.

Joseph A. DiPaolo (died November 3, 2015, age 91), a renowned cancer researcher at NCI from 1963 to 2008 and scientist emeritus afterward, was chief of NCI’s biology laboratory from 1976 to 1999. His career included many international collaborations.

Joel Elkes (died October 30, 2015, age 101), considered the father of modern neuropsychopharmacology, was chief of NIMH’s neuropharmacology research center from 1957 to 1963. After leaving NIH, he held positions at several universities including being chairman of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore) from 1963 to 1974.

Willis “Bill” R. Foster (died December 21, 2015, age 87) was a senior staff physician in NIDDK’s Office of Scientific Program and Policy Analysis. Before coming to NIH in 1983, he worked for 17 years in medical information analysis at the Smithsonian Science Information Exchange in Washington, D.C. In 1988, he was the co-author of the fourth edition of Human Nutrition, a textbook on the role of nutrition in health and disease. He received a number of awards and commendations for his work at NIDDK, culminating in the NIH Director’s Award in 1995. He retired from NIH in 2001.

Alfred G. Gilman (died December 23, 2015, age 74) shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with former NIEHS Director Martin Rodbell for the discovery of G-proteins and their role in signal transduction in cells. Gilman was a postdoctoral fellow (1969-1971) in NIH’s Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics run by Marshall Nirenberg who had shared the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on deciphering the genetic code.

David B. Gray (died February 12, 2015, age 71), former deputy director of NICHD’s National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research, worked at NICHD from 1981 to 1986 and from 1987 to 1995, served on NICHD’s advisory council, and was a professor of occupational therapy and neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Gray became a quadriplegic after he fell from his roof in 1976, and his own experience with medical rehabilitation led to his professional interest in the field.

William J. “Bill” Hadlow (died June 20, 2015, age 94) was a veterinary pathologist and spent most of his career at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana (1952–1958; 1961–1987). In 1961, he started what has become a world-renowned prion-disease research program.

Joseph Handler (died December 21, 2015, age 86), who first arrived at the NIH as a Public Health Service fellow in 1957, was a former section chief in NHLBI’s Laboratory of Kidney and Electrolyte Metabolism. He made major contributions to our understanding of kidney function during his tenure at NIH from 1960 to 1988. He then moved to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, where he was the director of nephrology in the Department of Medicine from 1988 to 2003.

Pauline Hardy (died October 27, 2015, age 81) was a long-time dishwasher in NIDDK’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology (1974–2002).

Eileen G. Hasselmeyer (died June 6, 2015, age 91), a former assistant surgeon general, retired in 1989 after more than 29 years of active duty with the Commissioned Corps—26 of which were spent with NICHD. She was responsible for developing the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) research initiative in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and was recognized for her contributions to SIDS research.

Gordon Blackistone Hughes (died February 15, 2015, at 66) was clinical trials coordinator for the NIDCD (2008–2015) in the areas of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language. He was most well-known for his hallmark textbook, Clinical Otology.

Richard M. Krause (died January 6, 2015, age 90) was the director of NIAID from 1975 to 1984. In 1984, he retired from the U.S. Public Health Service and became dean of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta. In 1989, he returned to NIH to become a senior scientific advisor at the Fogarty International Center. He worked into his late 80s, both at Fogarty and as an investigator emeritus in the NIAID Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, where he led an ongoing joint Indo-U.S. effort examining the incidence of streptococcal pharyngitis and rheumatic fever in schoolchildren in India.

Marion G. Lawrence (died September 28, 2015, age 86) was a biochemist in the Clinical Center’s Critical Care Medicine Department (1985-2009).

Frederick P. Li (died June 10, 2015, age 75), a pioneer in establishing genetic risk factors for cancer, was a long-time researcher in NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (1967–1991). He is perhaps most widely known for his contribution to the discovery in the 1960s of the cancer-predisposition syndrome later named for him and his collaborator, former DCEG Division Director Joseph F. Fraumeni, Jr. The two identified what came to be known as Li-Fraumeni Syndrome from the study of a group of families with an unexpected constellation of tumors occurring at very young ages.

Guy W. Moore (died November 13, 2015, age 93) retired from NIH in 1979 as chief of the News Branch in the Office of the Director. He came to NIH in 1960 as deputy director of the information office in the Division of General Medical Sciences after having served as the first information officer of the Medical Research and Development Command of the Army’s Office of the Surgeon General.

Gayle Mundell (died March 2, 2015, age 56), a human-resources liaison and ethics-program coordinator in NIDCD, retired in January 2015 after having been at NIH for nearly 25 years.

Betty Murgolo (died October 8, 2015, age 69) was a staple of the NIH Library in the document-delivery department and helped many people throughout NIH during her 32 years there.

David Orloff (died September 13, 2015, age 58) was the director of FDA’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products and oversaw the approval of a new class of statin drugs. After achieving the rank of captain in the Public Health Service in 2005, he joined Medpace Inc., where he was regarded as an industry opinion leader in the study of metabolic diseases and drug development.

Joanne Panza (died July 12, 2015, age 69) was a former executive officer of NEI.

William E. Paul (died September 19, 2015, age 79) was a giant in the field of immunology; served as chief of NIAID’s Laboratory of Immunology starting in 1970 and as director of the NIH Office of AIDS Research and as NIH Associate Director for AIDS Research (1994–1997). He was best known for his groundbreaking work on T-cell and cytokine biology, including the discovery of interleukin-4 and his extensive body of research on this cytokine that established it as a critical regulator of allergic and inflammatory diseases.

Donald C. Rau (died December 11, 2015), the head of NICHD’s Section on Macromolecular Recognition and Assembly, joined NIH in 1980 and retired in 2015. His research focused on elucidating the physical forces between molecules and the coupling of these to structure and dynamics of biologically important macromolecules.

Lee Rosen (died October 22, 2015, age 68) was a scientific-review officer in the Center for Scientific Review’s biomedical imaging and technology study section for 26 years.

Padman Sarma (died June 24, 2015, age 83), who began his career at NCI in the 1960s, pioneered methods to test for cancer-causing viruses and fight cancer in both animals and humans, and enabled advancements in sciences including leukemia, sarcoma, influenza, rubella, testicular cancer, and HIV/AIDS. In 1983, he became a program director in NCI’s extramural program and continued until his retirement in 1995.

John F. Sherman (died June 28, 2015, age 95) served for six years as NIH deputy director (1968–1974), including four months as acting NIH director in early 1973. He came to NIH as an officer in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in January 1953; he was a research pharmacologist in the Laboratory of Tropical Diseases, National Microbiological Institute, which became NIAID in 1955. In 1956, he began a series of extramural leadership positions, and in 1964 he was named NIH associate director for extramural programs. Sherman was the first Ph.D. to be promoted to the rank of assistant surgeon general.

Louis Sokoloff (died July 30, 2015, age 93), who spent more than 40 years at NIH starting in the 1950s, pioneered the use of the positron-emission tomography scan to measure human brain function and diagnose disorders. He headed NIMH’s brain metabolism laboratory and received the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award in 1981 for his role in developing the vivid color images that map brain function.

Cliff Sonnenbrot (died October 21, 2015, age 59) was a chemist lab manager in NHLBI’s Laboratory of Developmental Systems Biology.

Kenneth (Ken) Stith (died August 8, 2015, age 67), who joined NIH in 2000, was the director of the Office of Financial Management and deputy chief financial officer.

Louis Stokes (died October 18, 2015, age 90), a United States congressman (D-Ohio) for whom NIH’s Building 50 is named, served throughout his career as a strong, reliable supporter of federal funding for medical research in general and for NIH in particular.

Richard M. Suzman (died April 1, 2015, age 72) was the director of NIA’s Division of Behavioral and Social Research. He made important contributions to the science of demography and promoted the development of new subfields, including the demography of disability and the bio-demography of aging. He joined NIA in 1983 and became division director in 1998.

Norman Talal (died April 25, 2015, age 80) was a longtime, preeminent authority on Sjögren syndrome whose research offered novel perspectives on autoimmune diseases. He began his career at NIH as a research associate; became a senior investigator at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases (now NIAMS); and left NIH in 1971 for a position at the University of California at San Francisco.

Arthur Upton (died February 14, 2015, age 92), a renowned pathologist and expert in radiation biology, was the former director of NCI (1977–1980). Using his knowledge of environmental carcinogenesis, he made environmental issues one of his first initiatives and sought closer cooperation between the NCI and governmental entities devoted to environmental regulation.

Sholom Wacholder (died October 4, 2015, age 60), an expert in cancer epidemiology and biostatistics in NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (1986-2015), was the lead statistician for the NCI study of the natural history of human papillomavirus and cancer.

Belle Waring (died January 31, 2015, age 63) was a science writer who enjoyed doing stories on NIH scientists and their achievements. She started her NIH career in 2002 as a prints and photographs technician in NLM’s History of Medicine Division; in 2006, she became a writer-editor for the NIH Record.