Nancy H. Colburn, PhD, a longtime member of the AACR, died March 16, 2020, at the age of 78.
Colburn was born in Newark, Delaware, in 1941. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College in 1963 and her PhD in biochemistry from the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin, in 1967.
Colburn held faculty positions at the University of Delaware and the University of Michigan, then joined the Laboratory of Experimental Pathology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 1976. During her tenure at the NCI, she led research programs in several laboratories. In 2003, she was appointed chief of the Laboratory of Cancer Prevention. She also served as chair of the Cancer Prevention Faculty from 2000 to 2005.
Colburn authored 250 research publications over the course of her career. Colburn and colleagues discovered and validated two new molecular targets for cancer prevention: tumor-suppressing translation inhibitor Pdcd4 and oncogenic transcription factor AP-1. They discovered Pdcd4 using a unique cell culture model that Colburn had generated.
Colburn joined the AACR in 1974. She served as an associate editor of Cancer Research in 1989 and an editorial board member of Cancer Prevention Research from 2008 to 2013.
She was a member of the AACR’s Research Grant Review Committee from 2004 to 2006 and from 2009 to 2013. She was also a member of the Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Awards Committee from 2009 to 2011; and a member of the Women in Cancer Research (WICR) Council from 2011 to 2012.
Among numerous career awards, Colburn received an NIH Merit Award, an NCI Outstanding Mentor Award, and an NCI Mentor of Merit Award. She was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012.
I am Dr. Leela Srinivas, director of a cancer research institute (RTD). I had the honor of working with Dr. Nancy Colburn for about six years. I learned a lot from her, and she was truly a friend, philosopher, and guide. She was an extra ordinary person and a bright scientist. The cancer research field has truly lost a pioneer. My heart felt condolences to her family and friends. I pray that her soul rests in peace. This is my respectful requiem to my drear teacher and guru, Dr. Nancy Colburn.
I learned of Nancy and her work when I spent time at the McArdle Lab for Cancer Research. I was honored to meet her at the annual AACR meeting. She always attended the reception for the McArdle groups. I was very impressed by her research and invited her to present a seminar at my institution, Penn State. She gave a great seminar and inspired the students in the audience. I knew Nancy for many years and considered her a mentor, colleague and friend.
I am Reshma Kumari Sharma,PhD student in IISER-kolkata. My work is also on PDCD4 therefore I came across so many research articles of honarable Nancy H Colburn. Today I thought to see her so I searched in Google and I became so sad to find that she recently died. I wish I could met her once to see such a legendary Scientist or email her to get some inspiration from her as a women scientist.
I pray May her Soul rest in Peace.