IN MEMORIAM

Anne Cataldo, HMS associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Laboratories for Molecular Neuropathology at McLean Hospital, died on April 13. She was 57.

Cataldo received her BA from Emmanuel College in 1974, her MAT from Harvard University in 1975 and her PhD from the University of Maryland in 1986. She joined the HMS community in 1985 as a research associate in neuropathology. She became an instructor in psychiatry (neuropathology) in 1990 and was promoted to assistant professor of psychiatry in 1995 and associate professor of psychiatry in 1999. She was appointed director of the Laboratories for Molecular Neuropathology in 1999.

Cataldo’s research focused on advancing the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease through research on the cellular mechanisms associated with the pathogenesis of sporadic and familial forms of the disease. She was well known for her ability to collaborate with her colleagues at McLean and across institutions. Cataldo published more than 50 original reports and numerous book chapters and review articles. She also played a principal role in the development of several patents.

Cataldo was widely respected as a laboratory preceptor, who supervised and mentored medical, graduate and postgraduate students as well as postdoctoral research fellows. She participated and lectured in courses on the pathobiology of Alzheimer’s and served as an adviser to graduate students at Harvard University and Nathan Kline Institute/New York University.

Cataldo is survived by her husband, Peter Paskevich, HMS research associate in psychiatry and senior vice president for research administration at McLean; two step-children, Andrew and Laurie Paskevich; her mother, Virginia Cataldo; her brother, Henry Cataldo; her sister, Donna Taft; and nieces and nephews.

Don Fawcett, the Hersey and James Stillman professor emeritus of comparative anatomy, died on May 7. He was 92.

Fawcett received his AB from Harvard College in 1938 and his MD from HMS in 1942. In 1943 he was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and served as a battalion surgeon in the European theater in World War II. His medical education was interrupted for two years when he was stationed in Panama in the Army Medical Corps.  He rejoined the HMS community in 1946 and became a research fellow in anatomy at HMS under the leadership of George Wislocki.

He rose to the rank of assistant professor of anatomy before assuming the position of chair of the Department of Anatomy at Cornell Medical School in 1955. He returned to HMS four years later to succeed Wislocki as chair of the Department of Anatomy and the Hersey and James Stillman professorship of comparative anatomy. He also served HMS as senior associate dean for preclinical sciences from 1975 to 1977.

Fawcett was a pioneer in the use of electron microscopy in the early 1950s and brought cellular structure and function to the world’s attention. He published more than 200 papers on cell biology, describing in particular the structure and function of components of the male reproductive system, liver, and cardiac and skeletal muscle tissues. He provided the first descriptions of many cell organelles and discovered new ones. He was the author of several editions of a classic histology textbook (Fawcett and Bloom) as well as The Cell, an atlas of fine structure.

Fawcett was a cofounder and first president of the American Society for Cell Biology and served on the editorial boards of nine journals. He was the recipient of numerous honors, including nine honorary degrees and election to the National Academy of Sciences. His photographic images of African and North American wildlife and wildflowers have been widely exhibited and published. His artistry is also highlighted in multiple drawings that illustrate his texts.

After retiring from HMS in 1981, he was a senior research scientist and director of electron microscopy at the International Laboratory for Research in Animal Diseases in Nairobi, Kenya. He moved to Montana in 1988.

Fawcett is survived by his wife of 68 years, Dorothy Seacrest Fawcett of Montana; his sons, Bob Fawcett of New Hampshire and Joe Fawcett of Montana; two daughters, Mary Papish of Hawaii and Dona Boggs of Montana; a nephew, Ken Fawcett of Iowa; 13 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests contributions to the American Society for Cell Biology (8120 Woodmont Ave., Suite 750, Bethesda, MD 20817) for its half-century fund to create a Don Fawcett memorial travel award to support students’ attendance at ASCB meetings.

D. Mark Hegsted, who was instrumental in the development of the federal “Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” died on June 16 at the age of 95. Hegsted was a founding member of the Department of Nutrition at HSPH, among the first such departments in a medical or public health school in the world.

Hegsted’s research demonstrated the effects of specific dietary fats and cholesterol on serum cholesterol levels. His studies of calcium, iron and protein broadened the understanding of dietary requirements to promote good health.

Hegsted made major contributions to the seminal “Dietary Goals for Americans,” the predecessor to “Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” published by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and of Agriculture and serve as the foundation of federal food and nutrition education programs.

“We have lost a luminary in the field of human nutrition who worked assiduously to elucidate the links between diet and health,” said Julio Frenk, dean of HSPH.

Hegsted graduated from the University of Idaho in 1936. He earned a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1940 and worked as a research chemist at the Abbott Laboratories in Chicago for one year before joining the newly established HSPH Department of Nutrition. In 1962, he became a professor of nutrition. In 1978, he was named administrator of human nutrition in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. From 1982 to 1984, he served as the associate director for research at the New England Primate Research Center at HMS.

In 2007, Hegsted received the School of Public Health’s Professor Emeritus Award of Merit. An annual lecture at the School—the Stare-Hegsted Lecture—is named after him and Fredrick Stare, the founding chair of the HSPH Department of Nutrition.

Hegsted is survived by his son, Eric Hegsted, Eric’s wife, Anne Macaire, and grandsons Charles and William Hegsted, all of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada; granddaughter, Camilla Franck, and great-granddaughter, Sarah Hespe, both of New York City; and sisters, Beth Parkinson and Helen Pratt. He was predeceased by his wife, Maxine Scow Hegsted.

Phyllis Jen, HMS associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, died in a tragic motor vehicle accident on Tuesday, April 21. She was 60.

Jen received her BS from Brown University in 1969 and her MD from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 1975. Following an internship at Stanford University, she joined the HMS community as a resident in medicine at BWH. She would remain at BWH throughout her career, serving as an internist and as the medical director of Brigham Internal Medicine Associates for 27 years.

Jen served HMS as an assistant professor of medicine from 1991 to 2001 and was promoted to associate professor of medicine in 2001. She was known as a master clinician, widely recognized as one of the top-rated physicians in internal medicine. She made major contributions to clinical training, continuing medical education and the supervision and mentoring of residents and trainees. Jen served as editor-in-chief for the online version of the Harvard Family Health Guide and was also recognized for her community service, especially for her work to help the poor and uninsured receive medical care.

Jen is survived by her husband, Robert Schlauch; sons, Michael and Daniel; daughter, Amy; and sisters, May Koo of Mountain View, Calif., Linda Jacobson of Pittsburg, Penn., and Erica Jen of Brookline. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Phyllis Jen Memorial Fund, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02114.

Lorna Johnson, lecturer on obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at the New England Primate Research Center, died on Feb. 21. She was 88.

Johnson received her BA from Barnard College in 1941 and her MD from New York University School of Medicine in 1944. She met her husband, Robert Johnson, at the Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City, where they participated in the rescue of victims from the B-25 plane crash into the Empire State Building. They moved to Framingham, Mass., in 1953.

Johnson joined the HMS community in 1955 as an assistant in pathology. She ran the cervical cancer clinic at the Boston Lying-in Hospital, where she became an expert in cervical cancer. She went on to serve on the staff at NEPRC for more than 30 years, first as principal associate and then as lecturer on obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology.

She joined Arthur Hertig in 1966 in what was then the Division of Pathobiology at NEPRC. She studied the pathologic anatomy of the nonhuman primate reproductive tract and made major contributions to NEPRC’s programs in herpesvirus oncogenicity, ulcerative colitis and carcinoma of the colon.

Johnson believed in giving to her community. She coordinated fundraising for the medical library at the Framingham Union Hospital, now the Metro West Medical Center; the Framingham Union Nursing School, now the Cancer Center; and the first Historic District in Framingham. She was also instrumental in improving the Framingham school system while serving on the school committee, first as a member and then as chair.

Johnson was predeceased by her husband, Robert; her daughter, Laurel “Muffin” Lyons of Woodsville, N.H.; and son, James Samuel “Sam” Johnson. She is survived by her daughter, Amy Johnson, of Rochester, Mass.; her son, Robert Johnson Jr. of Framingham; and three grandchildren. Memorial donations may be made to the James Samuel Johnson Scholarship Fund for Young Artists, c/o Stephen W. Price, Treasurer/Tax Collector, 150 Concord Street, Framingham, MA 01702.

John Mislow, a fifth-year resident and clinical fellow in neurosurgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, died June 11. He was 39.

Mislow and Andrew Swanson, a medical school friend and orthopedic surgeon in Minneapolis, died while climbing Mount McKinley in Alaska’s Denali National Park. In 2000, they received the Denali Pro Award for safety, self-sufficiency and assisting fellow climbers.

A graduate of Princeton with a BS in geophysical sciences, Mislow earned his MD and PhD in Pathology from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. It was there that he met his wife, Linda Wang, HMS instructor of dermatology at BWH. Both had entered medical school after other careers, Wang as a lawyer and Mislow as a researcher in geophysics and environmental conservation. They married in 2000, and, upon graduating from medical school in 2004, he came to BWH to complete his residency in neurosurgery.

Leigh Hochberg, HMS instructor in neurology at MGH and neuroengineer at Brown University, said, “John’s neurosurgery expertise and scientific insights contributed enormously to the design of a system to help people with paralysis and other neurologic disorders.”

In addition to his wife; two children, Max, 3, and Jack, almost 2; and parents, Mislow is survived by one brother, Christopher Mislow, of Charlottesville, Va.

Two funds have been established in Mislow’s memory. One will support an annual neurosciences lectureship program that will alternate between Brown University and BWH. Checks can be made out to Brown University, with a note that they are to go to the John Mislow Memorial Fund, and sent to Brown University, Gift Cashier, Box 1877, Providence, RI 02912.

The second is the John Mislow and Andrew Swanson Denali Pro Award Memorial Fund, to recognize mountaineers who reflect the highest standards in the sport for safety, self-sufficiency, assisting other mountaineers and “leave-no-trace” environmental practices. Checks may be made out to the Denali National Park and Preserve, with a note that the funds are directed to the Mislow & Swanson fund, and sent to John Mislow & Andrew Swanson Denali Pro Award Memorial Fund, Talkeetna Ranger Station, PO Box 588, Talkeetna, AK 99676.

John Nemiah, HMS professor emeritus of psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, died on May 11. He was 90 years old.

Nemiah received his BA from Yale University in 1940 and his MD from HMS in 1943. His medical training was interrupted for two years when he was stationed in Panama in the Army Medical Corps. He rejoined the HMS community in 1948 and completed his training in psychiatry at Boston City Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.

He remained at MGH through 1967. While there, he held various hospital positions, from psychiatrist and psychoanalyst to acting head of the Department of Psychiatry from 1965 to 1967. He was promoted through the ranks at HMS and became professor of psychiatry in 1968. Nemiah moved to what was then Beth Israel Hospital as psychiatrist in chief in 1967. He retired as professor emeritus of psychiatry in 1985.

Nemiah wrote Foundations of Psychopathology, a widely used textbook that was published in 1961 and authored many scientific papers. He also served as editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry from 1978 to 1993. Under his 15-year tenure, several changes were introduced. He required that each manuscript receive at least two peer reviews and instituted a system to track the reviews by computer. He also implemented a statistical review of all manuscripts and brought the journal into the age of computer desktop publishing so that all copyediting was done in-house to ensure continuity.

After his retirement from BID, he moved back to New Hampshire, where he continued to serve as the American Journal of Psychiatry editor in addition to teaching at Dartmouth Medical School.

Nemiah was predeceased by his wife of 30 years, Muriel (Harris) Nemiah Geist, with whom he raised his three children, and by his wife of 32 years, Margarete Nemiah. He is survived by a daughter Ann Conway of Hollis, N.H.; two sons, James of Bedford, Mass. and David of Fairfield, Conn.; a stepdaughter, Elaine Cohen of Oxford, England; and eight grandchildren.

Memorial donations can be made to the Employee Scholarship Fund c/o The Huntington at Nashua, 55 Kent Lane, Nashua, N.H. 03062.

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