DR ANITA ROBERTS

SCIENCE AND MEDICINE lost a true leader and rôle model with the passing of Dr Anita Roberts. She was one of the most-cited scientists in the world and was Head of the Laboratory of Cell Regulation and Carcinogenesis at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, USA. Dr Roberts and her research partner, Dr Michael Sporn, now of Dartmouth Medical School, won the 2005 Komen Foundation Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction for their work on molecules – in particular TGF-ß – that are responsible for the transition of normal cells into cancer cells. She also won the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology’s 2005 Award for excellence in science. Dr Roberts made many outstanding contributions to science and medicine particularly regarding TGF-ß biology. She was fascinated by the mechanisms involved in development and repair, regularly attended wound healing meetings including of the ETRS and the WHS and was a member of the Editorial Board of Wound Repair and Regeneration.

Dr Anita Roberts had a warm, enthusiastic and encouraging personality – and this, in conjunction with her scientific acumen, made her a true leader. Our past president, Professor Esther Middelkoop, on the occasion of Dr Anita Roberts passing, said: ‘My personal memories of Anita date back to one of the meetings, a joint meeting of WHS and ETRS, where she presented the first data on the TGF-ß – knock-out mice. I remember sitting in the audience and being absolutely stunned by the data and the presentation. I am sure her data gave directions to research of many other scientists in cancer research but also in different fields such as wound healing.’

Dr Anita Roberts

One of us (MWJF) knew Anita personally and worked with her over many years on various aspects of TGF-ß biology. Anita always had a well developed scientific curiosity and an encyclopaedic grasp of everything that was going on concerning TGF-ß and its associated fields: development, wound healing, cancer, disease states, etc. She was a generous collaborator, distributing widely reagents, cell lines, animal models, etc. She always knew what was going on in numerous laboratories around the world and was generous with her comments and support. There is no doubt that the enormous advances, which have been made in fields relating to TGF-ß, owe much to the outgoing collaborative spirit of Anita and her group. Anita was also very interested in, and supportive of, many junior students, staff and visitors to her laboratory. She recruited widely from across the world. Her lab was a place that people wanted to visit – and often wanted to stay! Those who worked there or collaborated with Anita knew all of the current staff, most of the past staff, many of the collaborators and most of the future staff. This influence established a family like, international web of researchers, who often collaborated, exchanged reagents, staff and visitors and who met on a regular basis at one of the
recurring TGF-ß meetings: the NIH Series, the Keystone series etc. Dr Anita Roberts was instrumental in establishing and organising these regular meetings, which spanned the complete breadth of TGF-ß biology: structure, receptor binding, second messenger signalling, roles in development, wound healing, diseases and therapeutic applications. Everyone in the field wanted to attend and speak and the meetings were scientifically exhilarating and socially pleasing. Anita herself attended and spoke at these meetings up until the very end. She clearly derived much pleasure from the rapidly emerging knowledge about TGF-ß, its biology and its importance in physiology and disease. At the last Keystone meeting on TGF-ß in 2005, Anita spoke and was present in every session, despite her advancing illness. She had received blood transfusions and special medical attention so that she could attend the meeting and was there for the whole event, clearly enjoying the scientific and social interactions.

Dr Anita Roberts was an outstanding supervisor, who somehow managed to fit everything in effortlessly and achieved a remarkable balance between work and family. Early in her career, she had taken a break for some years in order to look after her young family. She returned to work at the NIH with Michael Sporn and from there made outstanding scientific contributions to our understanding of retinoid and TGF-ß biology. This experience gave her a unique perspective on work and family. She always found time to spend with her husband, Bob, sons, in-laws and grandchildren, who in turn supported her in the last year of illness. Bob, in particular, stoically attended to all of her needs and accompanied her on scientific trips to symposia, labs, etc.

Shortly after Anita was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she decided to establish a diary on the internet. In part this was to allow her to express her feelings and in part it was an efficient way for her to communicate with her network of hundreds of friends around the world, who were keen to learn of her progress, welfare and who doubtlessly would have otherwise bombarded her with hundreds of emails. This blog diary is a story of hope, resilience, science, medicine and human/family feelings. It portrays Anita’s unique insights wisdom and humour. On reading it, your emotions go through a roller coaster of scientific insight, medical distaste, empathy, sadness and grief. In the early days, despite the frustration of being diagnosed with an inoperable, incurable tumour, Anita systematically and stoically set out to try any rational therapy which might slow the development of her cancer or potentially cure. She investigated and enrolled in clinical trials of new therapies.

She tried traditional eastern remedies: many sent to her by her worldwide network of friends and colleagues. She experienced periods of considerable remission, which brought her and her family great joy, but equally periods of intense sickness, e.g., following rounds of chemotherapy or the ascites taps in the later stages of her disease. All is recorded in her internet diary, which will hopefully serve as a source of comfort and hope to other cancer sufferers and of inspiration to both basic and clinical scientists. As a distinguished cancer researcher, Anita was initially frustrated with the irony of developing a cancer for which there was no cure. However, this irritation quickly disappeared and she reflected in her internet diary on the complex problem of trying to cure cancer, ‘research takes a long long time’ she wrote. ‘I know the public is always looking for a magic bullet, they want you to say this does that, but our own biology is incredibly complex. As a basic scientist we are all driven by our excitement in finding answers. We hope it ends up as something that becomes a therapy, but that does not happen unless you have a basic understanding of the underlying processes and that is what my research is all about.’

Dr Anita Roberts leaves behind a rich scientific legacy: hundreds of important papers and book chapters, a worldwide network of researchers interested in and researching the complex roles of signalling molecules such as TGF-ß in health and disease, a family of scientific friends and collaborators who have been deeply influenced, not only by Anita’s scientific insights, but by her unique approach to work and the collegial and collaborative atmosphere at the NIH, which extended to the farthest reaches of the globe. These contributions, her legacy, will live on in future generations.

Knowing her destiny, the internet entry on the day before Anita died, read that she was going home to end her journey and finished with ‘Love to all of you – no regrets’.

We have all lost a distinguished scientist and friend and we extend our deepest sympathies to her husband Bob, children and grandchildren.

Karin Scharffetter-Kochanek ETRS President

Mark Ferguson ETRS Secretary