Dr. Mark Myers Udden

1951 - 2026

Dr. Mark Myers Udden
06/05/1951 - 02/08/2026
Dr. Mark Myers Udden was born in Tyler, Texas on June 5, 1951, to Mary and Marshall Udden. With his sister Lynn, the family moved around the Southwest for Marshall's job as a geologist for Sunray Oil during Mark's childhood but settled in Tulsa for his high school years. Before graduating from Nathan Hale High School Mark did a summer program at Brown University with the National Institute of Science. He received his undergraduate degree from MIT, where he pledged Sigma Nu, and he received his medical degree from Southwestern Medical School in Dallas in 1977. He completed his training with residency and fellowship in Hematology at Baylor College of Medicine, joining the faculty thereafter. New Year's Eve, 1968, he met Rice senior Becky Greene on an errand to pick up ice for his cousin while in Houston for medical school interviews. Although they had an instant connection she had a boyfriend at the time; however, he was patient, and they reconnected four years later. They married in 1977 and have two daughters, Jennifer and Abigail.
Mark spent his entire career at Baylor College of Medicine, primarily at Ben Taub Hospital, treating patients with blood disorders ranging from leukemia to anemia. His specialty was benign hematology (now called classical hematology), with a particular interest in sickle cell anemia. In addition to seeing patients at Ben Taub, the Duncan Center Hematology Clinic, and in private practice, he also spent time in research, notably with Dr. Clarence Alfrey in partnership with NASA. This work got him a trip to Russia just after the fall of the Soviet Union, where he had to bring his own peanut butter and canned tuna, just in case.
In addition to seeing patients, he was an educator at Baylor, training hundreds of fellows and thousands of students and residents. He was a BCM Master Clinician, former chair of the ABIM hematology board and had previously directed both the internal medicine core rotation and the hematology course for medical students. In 2024 he received the Baylor College of Medicine Alumni Award.
He was a voracious reader and endlessly curious about the world, reading up on everything from Roman history to American literature. He never missed doing a NYT crossword puzzle, and before the NYT paywalled it, would print out months' worth at Christmas for Becky to fill out. He loved music and kept a notebook in his car to write down songs to remember, and he was rarely seen without a bow tie. He loved a good pun and often shared cartoons clipped from the pages of the New Yorker. He loved the theater, particularly the community at Main Street Theater, where he never missed an opening night as an unofficial photographer. He loved his home in the Smokies-sharing time with family, hiking, reading, and observing bears! Most of all he loved his girls – his wife Becky and his daughters Abby and Jennifer.
He passed away on February 8, 2026, from heart failure. He is preceded in death by his parents, Mary and Marshall Udden, his aunt Bobbye Bonar, and his cousin Jimmy Bonar. He is survived by his wife Rebecca and daughters Jennifer and Abigail, his sister Lynn Hedrick, and his cousin Becky Bonar.
A memorial fund at Baylor is being established, and the family will share details in the coming weeks.