Passing of SDB Past President and Conklin Medalist Kathryn V. Anderson

12/1/2020

The Society for Developmental Biology mourns the passing of developmental geneticist Kathryn V. Anderson of the Sloan Kettering Institute on November 30, 2020. 

Anderson was a leader in both the fly and mouse genetics communities. She identified Toll as an essential gene for establishing the dorsoventral axis in Drosophila and went on to characterize numerous components of the Toll pathway and its role in innate immunity. She expanded her work into mice conducting forward genetic screens to identify genes required for early patterning in vertebrates. Through this work she identified novel genes in the Hedgehog signaling pathway and established a strong link between Hedgehog signaling and cilia biogenesis.

Anderson was committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists. Her former postdoc, Tamara Caspary, Professor at Emory University posted a lovely tribute.

Anderson was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and served as SDB President (1998-1999). She was awarded the FASEB Excellence in Science Award in 2014 and SDB Edwin G. Conklin Medal in 2016.

Last Updated 10/12/2021