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A Tribute to Dr. Nancy Rutledge Zahniser (1948-2016) Submitted by Habibeh Khoshbouei, PhD and Joanna Peris, PhD Dr. Nancy Rutledge Zahniser, PhD, passed away peacefully at her home in Denver, Colorado on May 5, 2016 after being diagnosed with neuroglioblastoma in December 2014. Dr. Zahniser was born on October 26, 1948 and raised in Chillicothe, OH. She Dr. Zahniser received a PhD in pharmacology in 1977 from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Zahniser did her postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Perry Molinoff in the Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC) in Denver, CO. Subsequently, Dr. Zahniser was hired by the UCHSC Department of Pharmacology as a tenure-track assistant professor in 1981, rising quickly through the ranks to become full professor with tenure in 1991. Dr. Zahniser also held concurrent faculty appointments in the neuroscience program and the medical student training program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Zahniser’s research focused on better understanding the brain neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) and the addictive drugs that alter its function. She was the first to demonstrate that DA receptor binding is influenced by guanine nucleotides and that release regulating presynaptic D2 DA autoreceptors exist on rat striatal neurons. Her research was continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1981, including by RCDA, MERIT and Senior Scientist awards from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). She was thoroughly committed to helping both graduate students and postdoctoral trainees advance their own careers, mentoring the research projects of 9 thesis students and 22 postdoctoral fellows in her lab. Together, they have published over 150 papers, reviews and book chapters. Many of Dr. Zahniser’s graduate students and postdoctoral trainees now run their own independent neuroscience laboratories.
In addition to serving as vice-chair and acting chair of the Department of Pharmacology from 2003-2006, Dr. Zahniser was also the CU School of Medicine associate dean for research education from 2007-2012, serving as a resource for persons applying for training grants, fellowships, and career awards. Dr. Zahniser directed an NIAAA-supported postdoctoral training grant, NIGMSfunded predoctoral pharmacology training grant and ASPET-supported Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program for under-represented students. She served as a regular member of two NIH study sections, the NIDA National Advisory Council and the NIDA Intramural Research Program Board of Scientific Counselors, as well as an ad hoc member of numerous other National Science Foundation (NSF) and NIH review panels. In addition to a very active history of reviewing for all the major neuroscience and pharmacology journals, Dr. Zahniser was on the editorial boards of Pharmacological Communications, CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics and the Journal of Neuroscience Methods. Dr. Zahniser was a member of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) since 1982 and a member of the Society for Neuroscience since 1979. She received the Award in Excellence in Pharmacology/Toxicology from the PhRMA Foundation honoring her career achievements in the field of dopamine regulation in drug addiction in both 1984 and 2014. She served on the ASPET Council as Secretary–Treasurer in 2001– 2002 and was selected as a fellow in the prestigious Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program for women in 2005–2006. Dr. Zahniser’s absence will be felt by the multitudes of former students, post-docs and young faculty who Nancy tirelessly and generously supported over the years. She made a point at every scientific conference to attend their presentations, read their grant proposals and give them advice on new techniques or collaborations to further their careers. Nancy was a highly ethical scientist who was a role model for many.
June 2016 • The Pharmacologist