In Memoriam (Sang Chae Nam & Mi Ra An Nam)
Sang Chae Nam, DVM, former visiting professor of physiology, and his wife, Mi Ra An Nam, PhD, former research staff member/visiting scholar in the endocrinology division, died August 3 in a head-on automobile crash near Bozeman, Montana. The couple was traveling with son Abraham, 10, and daughter Angela, 14, en route to Seattle where they were to return to their native Korea. The daughter was not hurt; the son suffered a broken leg and was treated and released from the hospital.
Dr. Sang Nam received his PhD degree in neuroscience from Northwestern in 1994, working with Philip E. Hockberger, PhD, associate professor of physiology. He returned to Korea for postdoctoral research at Chonnam National University Medical School, where he later joined the faculty. He came back to Northwestern in 2003 to conduct pioneering work applying two- photon imaging to the study of neural stem cell migration in mice, collaborating with Dr. Hockberger and Francis G. Szele, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics. He returned again (2004â06) to continue this research and help train graduate students in this tech-nology. He was instrumental in helping Drs. Szele and Hockberger obtain a five-year grant this year from the National Institutes of Health to continue these studies.
Dr. Mi Ra An, who married Dr. Nam in 1991, received a PhD degree in biochemistry in 1993 at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. She was a postdoc at the Feinberg School from 1994â96 working with William L. Lowe Jr., MD, professor of medicine. A faculty member at Chonnam National University, she returned to Northwestern in 2004â06 to collaborate with Dr. Lowe on exploring the use of embryonic and pancreatic stem cells as a treatment for Type 1 diabetes. She made important contributions to the understanding of approaches to differentiate stem cells along a pancreatic lineage, and her work is responsible for new areas of investigation in Dr. Lowe’s laboratory.
A memorial service was held August 12 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. A fund has been established to honor the couple’s contributions to Northwestern and serve as a college fund for their children. Contact Tom Tomplins in the Department of Physiology at 312/503-4904 for more information about the fund.