NIH Obituaries

Paying Tribute

Each year, the NIH Catalyst pays tribute in the January–February issue to NIH employees past and present who are no longer with us. Our condolences are with their friends, family, and colleagues who knew and loved them.

Mary Anne Bright, 67 (died April 16), came to the NIH CC in 1986 as an oncology nurse specialist before eventually becoming NCI’s Cancer Information Service Director until her retirement in 2018.

Bill Bunnag, 84 (died Nov. 5), came to NCI in 1974 as a cytotechnologist and became chief of the Cytology Automation Section before joining the Office of Technology Development as a health scientist administrator in 1988. He then served as a scientific review officer and as a referral officer at the Center for Scientific Review. Bunnag promoted Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander efforts across NIH.

Enrico Cabib, 98 (died Feb. 24), joined NIDDK in 1967 as a principal investigator and was known for his expertise in the biochemistry and genetics of the yeast cell wall. He retired in 2012 as senior investigator in the morphogenesis section of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics.

Amoz Chernoff, 100 (died March 25), came to NIH in 1978 and served as director of the Division of Blood Diseases and Resources at NHLBI and was a scientific advisor to the American Association of Blood Banks. His research included sickle-cell disease and the discovery of a new hemoglobin found in thalassemia patients. He also advocated blood bank and transfusion safety.

William “Bill” Dehn, 86 (died Aug. 18), retired in 2003 after more than 40 years at NIH as the last glassblower in the Office of Research Services Biomedical Engineering and Instrumentation Branch, where he produced devices created to individual specifications and research protocol requirements.

John J. DiGiovanna, 73 (died Feb. 6), came to the NCI Dermatology Branch in 1980 to develop treatments for dermatologic disorders and skin cancer chemoprevention. In 1994, he led the NIAMS Dermatology Clinical Research Unit; in 2000, he joined the NCI-CCR’s Basic Research Laboratory; and from 2010 on, he served in the DNA Repair Section of the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics.

Ronald Dubner, 88 (died Jan. 22), came to NIDCR (then NIDR) in 1959 as an intern before becoming a research scientist, section chief, and then lab chief with the Neurobiology and Anesthesiology Branch before leaving NIH in 1995.

Gerhard Ehrenspeck, 81 (died Jan. 3), came to NIH in 1988 as a scientific review officer. He managed the Center for Scientific Review’s cellular biology and physiology study section before retiring in 2006.

Marguerite M. Engler, 67 (died March 9), completed her doctoral research training at NHLBI and NIAAA. She joined NINR in 2011 and served as acting scientific director, deputy scientific director, and senior clinician and chief of the Cardiovascular Symptoms Unit. Her work focused on nutritional interventions to stem the tide of cardiovascular disease, and she defined many biomarkers of vascular health, endothelial function, and vascular aging.

Lawrence Faucette, 58 (died Oct. 30), worked at NIAID as a histology technician from 2003 to 2008. Faucette received the world’s second genetically modified pig heart transplant and lived for nearly six weeks following the surgery.

Delilah Stokes Foster, 93 (died Aug. 12), came to the NIH CC’s Chemistry Laboratory in 1959, where she worked as a medical technologist. After a long hiatus to raise her children, Foster returned to the Chemistry Laboratory for over 10 years before retiring in 1995.

Harold Gainer, 88 (died Nov. 7), joined NICHD in 1969 as a research physiologist and later became chief of the Laboratory of Neurochemistry and Immunology. In 1987, he become chief of the NINDS Laboratory of Neurochemistry, served as acting scientific director from 1994 to 1995, and served as Basic Neuroscience director from 1990 to 2000 before retiring in 2012.

Sanford "Sandy" Garfield, 80 (died Oct. 30), came to NIH in 1987 and worked for 25 years at NIDDK. While there, he oversaw landmark studies including the Diabetes Prevention Program, which focused on improving the treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes in high-risk groups.

Herb Geller, 78 (died April 16), came to NHLBI in 2001 and served as chief of the Developmental Neurobiology Laboratory in the Cell and Developmental Biology Center, and as director of the Office of Education from 2001 to 2019. He was known in the neuroscience field for his research into how extracellular signals could improve recovery of function after brain injury.

Andy Golden, 63 (died July 1), came to NCI in 1994 as a program fellow. He later joined NIDDK in 2000 and became chief of the Genetics of Early Development Section in the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics. Golden used worm genetics to understand the mechanisms underlying the beginning of human life and studied worms to learn more about the genetic disorders underlying cardiac arrhythmias.

Enoch Gordis, 92 (died April 5), served as NIAAA director from 1986 to 2001 and was an internationally known expert on alcoholism and addiction.

S. Perwez Hussain, 63 (died Nov. 24), joined NCI in 1994. For over 25 years, Hussain's translational research was integrated into clinical trials for patients with pancreatic cancer, and he established the pancreatic cancer research program in the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis.

Yoichiro Ito, 94 (died Oct. 28), came to NHLBI in 1968 as a visiting scientist, where he joined the Laboratory of Technical Development. In 1978, he became an NIH Medical Officer and founded the Laboratory of Bioseparation Technology before retiring in 2022. Ito was known in the field of chromatography for inventing devices based on seal-free solvent flow and applying it to separate blood components.

Barry Kaplan, 76 (died April 15), joined NIMH in 1997 and was the inaugural director of the Office of Fellowship Training, the first training office on the NIH campus. He was known for his dedication to mentoring young scientists. Kaplan also served as chief of the Section on Molecular Neurobiology from 1998 to 2018.

Rebecca Kolberg, 64 (died Feb. 10), served as managing editor of The NIH Catalyst from 1994 to 1996, before joining NHGRI in 2002, and later becoming chief of the NIH Director’s Presentations Branch in the NIH Office of Communications and Public Liaison. Kolberg retired in December 2022.

W. Michael Kuehl, 83 (died April 24), completed his postdoctoral training at NHLBI before joining NIH in 1982 as a senior investigator in the NCI-Navy Medical Oncology Branch. He later joined the Genetics Department of the NCI Medicine Branch (now the Genetics Branch), where he served as deputy chief (2001–2006) before retiring in 2015.

Claude Lenfant, 94 (died June 26), came to NIH in 1972 to develop the NHLBI Division of Lung Diseases and became the longest serving director of the Institute, leading it for 21 years until retiring in 2003. He was known for leading landmark initiatives such as the Programs of Excellence in Molecular Biology, the Proteomics Initiative, and NIH's first gene-therapy protocol.

Gerald Liddel, 85 (died Jan. 14), was a microbiologist who came to NCI in 1977 as a referral officer in the Grants Review Branch. He moved to the Division of Research Grants (now the Center for Scientific Review) in 1981 as a scientific review administrator of microbial genetics. In 1986, Liddel became a referral officer for applications in microbiology before retiring in 1999.

Mark Louder, 58 (died March 24), came to NIH in 2001 as a founding member of the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) and served as a lab manager and researcher at the Humoral Immunology Core. Throughout his career, Louder contributed to the VRC’s work in disease areas including HIV and COVID-19.

Henri Alice Lowery, 86 (died April 17), was a clinical psychologist at NIMH who was known for her work on the treatment and rehabilitation of people with severe mental disorders. Lowery directed the NIMH program on the treatment and rehabilitation of people with schizophrenia, administered the Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program, and served as a consultant to the World Health Organization before retiring in 1992.

Ying Ma, 59 (died Nov. 20), came to NIH in 1993 as a visiting scholar and in 1999 joined the Positron Emission Tomography Department at the Clinical Center. Ma was an expert in mass-spectrometry techniques, and in 2004, his group moved to NIBIB as one of its first intramural components.

Sean Marrett, 62 (died Dec. 12), came to the jointly funded NINDS and NIMH Functional MRI Facility in 2000 as a staff scientist. Marrett, whose career spanned the beginnings of functional brain mapping, was known across the brain imaging community at NIH for his collaborative work.

Allan Mirsky, 94 (died Feb. 3), worked at NIMH from 1954 to 1962, then returned two decades later as chief of the NIMH Laboratory of Psychology and Psychopathology. He contributed to the field of neuropsychology and to understanding schizophrenia and epilepsy in particular.

Herbert "Sandy" Carpenter Morse III, 80 (died Sept. 11), came to NIAID in 1972, where he worked for over 45 years and served as chief of the Laboratory of Immunopathology. Morse’s research focused on retrovirology, immunogenetics, autoimmunity, and animal models of disease.

Abner Notkins, 90 (died March 10), came to NIH in 1960 as a research associate at NCI before serving as NIDCR (then NIDR) scientific director from 1985 to 1992. He was an expert on viral immunology and throughout his 60-year career at NIH became one of the architects of the modern NIH Intramural Research Program. Notkins suggested and organized NIH’s first Research Day in 1986, an annual tradition that lives on today as the NIH Research Festival.

Editha Nottelmann, 87 (died April 9), was a psychologist who served as chief of the Affective and Regulatory Disorders Branch in the Division of Developmental Translational Research at NIMH before retiring in 2008 after 28 years at NIH. Nottelmann provided leadership in developing the NIMH research portfolio on bipolar disorder in children and adolescents and was known for her mentorship of others.

James M. Phang, 84 (died Jan. 29), was a senior investigator in the NCI-CCR Basic Research Laboratory. He worked at NCI for nearly 50 years before retiring in 2015. Phang’s discoveries provided insight into tumor reprogramming and metabolic epigenetics and introduced novel strategies for cancer therapy.

Keith Cranston Robbins, 79 (died Aug. 11), came to NCI as a laboratory technician, in 1985 became chief of the Molecular Genetics and Cellular Development and Oncology Lab, and then served as chief of the NIDCR Molecular and Biology Section (1988–1996). Robbins researched the oncogene and the mechanisms of cancer causation.

Christina Renee Savage, 35 (died March 22), came to NIH in 2020 as a postdoctoral fellow at NCI-CCR. Savage’s work focused on the cell biology of Bacillus and Borrelia bacteria.

Elliott Schiffman, 95 (died Dec. 31, 2022), was a biochemist who joined NHLBI (then NHI) in 1955 and moved to NIDCR (then NIDR) in 1962. From 1985 to 1990 he worked at NCI. While at NIH, Schiffman was known for his pioneering discoveries in cancer immunotherapy.

Harold C. Slavkin, 85 (died Dec. 22), was the sixth director of NIDCR and served from 1995–2000. Slavkin was a pioneer in craniofacial biology and contributed to its emergence as a multidisciplinary field. His efforts led to advancements that have had a profound impact on dental-oral-craniofacial research as well as other scientific disciplines.

Edmund C. Tramont, 83 (died March 5), became director of the AIDS Division at NIAID in 2001. Tramont helped lay the groundwork for the NIH and United States Army collaboration in infectious disease prevention and vaccine development.