The following obituary was submitted by former ASTMH President Stephanie James, PhD, and ASTMH member Michael Gottlieb, PhD, both of the Foundation for NIH.
Black and white photo: Jean Hickman, second row, third from right, at the first meeting of the TMP Ad Hoc study section on vector biology circa 1985.
Many ASTMH members will remember Dr. Jean Hickman, former Scientific Review Administrator for the NIH Tropical Medicine and Parasitology (TMP) study sections, who passed away on August 26, 2013.
Jean received her PhD in biochemistry from Georgetown University in 1957 and pursued a 30-year career as an NIH researcher, working with the noted biochemist Gilbert Ashwell at what was then the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases (later to be split into the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases).
Jean then left the bench and in 1985 assumed the role of Scientific Review Administrator for the TMP study section at the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR), which for several decades was responsible for review of all grant applications on experimental, epidemiological/field, and clinical studies of parasites and parasitic diseases (a role that later became encompassed by several study sections, including Pathogenic Eukaryotes, during a CSR reorganization). Jean also organized a new ad hoc study section that reviewed applications for research on arthropod and molluscan intermediate hosts of infectious pathogens, which later became the Vector Biology study section. Despite her lack of formal training in these areas, Jean soon became an integral part of the tropical medicine research community in the U.S., as the field’s most preeminent scientists served on her study sections and the majority of R01 applications in this research area passed through them. She enjoyed a long second career running the TMP study sections, working well into her 80's. Before her retirement in 2008, she received an NIH Director’s award and a Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s award for over 50 years of distinguished service at NIH. She was also recognized with tributes from her scientific friends and colleagues.
ASTMH convened a scientific seminar in her honor in 1999 and issued her a certificate of recognition for “meritorious contributions toward the control of tropical diseases.” The Society also held a special symposium in her honor in 2002. Members of the American Society of Parasitologists likewise recognized her for her outstanding service to our field in 2001.
Jean is fondly remembered as a strong, feisty and deeply committed proponent of tropical disease research and of the people who work on it.
Color photo: Jean Hickman, first row, far right, with members of the TMP study section in 1993.