Obituary: Lorraine A. Flaherty (1946–2006)

Abstract

On February 22, 2006, Lorraine (Lori) A. Flaherty, Ph.D., lost her long battle with cancer. As was her wish, she died at home with her family (husband Joe and children Joey and Amy) and close friends by her side. Born in Rochester, NY, on January 8, 1946, Lori received her B.S. in Biology from Tufts University in 1967 and her Ph.D. in Genetics from Cornell University Medical School in 1973. After completing her doctorate, she joined the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health as a research scientist and worked there until illness forced her to retire in January 2006. Throughout her career, Lori focused on the mouse as a model system for human disease and played a key role in the continued success of mouse genetics research at Wadsworth Center. In addition to her NIH-funded research programs, Lori served in a number of administrative positions during the course of over 30 years at Wadsworth Center, including Chief of the Laboratory of Mammalian Genomics, Director of the Histocompatibility and Paternity Testing Laboratory, Director of the Molecular Genetics Program, Director of the Kidney Disease Institute and Chief of the Laboratory of Immunology. Most recently, she was instrumental in developing the Genomics Institute at Wadsworth Center and served as its Director from 1999 until her retirement. In addition to her Wadsworth-related duties, she was Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the University at Albany; she also held adjunct faculty positions at Albany Medical College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, mentoring over two dozen postdoctoral fellows and graduate students during her career. She published over 140 scientific papers, held editorial posts with several peer-reviewed journals, served on advisory boards of a number of scientific organizations (e.g., Center for Rodent Genetics at NIEHS, Mouse Genome Informatics at The Jackson Laboratory) and served on NIH study sections for most of her career. Lori was well known for both her inquisitive mind and her love for cutting-edge technology. She continually searched for high-tech “toys” and made every attempt to bring all the latest technology in her field to the Wadsworth Center. She could easily be described as having multiple research careers. She first worked in immunogenetics, with particular emphasis on the major histocompatability complex, maintaining NIH grants for this research for over 20 years. In the next phase of her career, she examined the role of genetics, through mutagenesis studies, in other biological processes (e.g., development, differentiation). Finally, 10 years ago, she began to apply her expertise to the genetic dissection of mouse behavior. It is during this latter phase of her career that most IBANGS members came to know her. Active in our society for a number of years, she served as Secretary from 2002 to 2005 and recently received our first Lifetime Achievement Award (2005). She was also a regular participant in the Behavior Genetics Summer Schools and always enjoyed those sessions. She was never happier than when poring over data and discussing sometimes heatedly the results of a particular experiment. Even in the last few years, as her health deteriorated, her love of science and research kept her working at full capacity. Lori was sometimes “bigger than life” for those of us who knew her well, and her infectious laugh and scientific curiosity will be sorely missed.