A respected cytogeneticist and teacher, Susanne Gollin was professor emerita of human genetics and one of the first faculty members to join what is now the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. She died on April 6 following a lengthy battle with metastatic breast cancer, a disease she spent her career helping to understand and conquer.
She discovered and patented the observation that loss of specific genes (ATM) with parallel overexpression of other genes (including ATR and CHEK1) correlated with cancer development and treatment resistance. Importantly, these discoveries showed that identifying the presence of these defects could be used prognostically and as a guide to alternative therapeutics. These observations also revealed that ATR and CHEK1/2 inhibitors, combined with other agents, were key to treatment of triple-negative breast cancer.
“Pitt’s School of Public Health lost a giant,” said Dean Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH. “Dr. Susanne Gollin’s contribution and leadership in advancing the science of human genetics will always be an inspiration for all of us and for future generations of public health scholars.”
Gollin mentored students, postdoctoral fellows, colleagues and friends. She was especially supportive of those just getting started in their careers. She was a founding fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics & Genomics, the International Academy of Oral Oncology and the Indian Association of Molecular Pathologists. She was a long-term member of the Allegheny County Board of Health and the Pennsylvania Cancer Control, Prevention and Research Board.
Among her many charitable activities, Gollin was a board member of the Women’s Law Project and Jewish Healthcare Foundation and served as a Judge of Elections for her precinct.
“Susanne was a long-standing and cherished faculty member in our department and was a mentor and friend to countless students and colleagues,” said Quasar Padiath, MBBS, PhD, professor and chair, Department of Human Genetics. “Many of the courses she originated are still taught in some form today.”
Gollin earned her MS (1975) and PhD (1980) in biological sciences at Northwestern University and completed postdoctoral work at the University of Rochester and Baylor College of Medicine.