RISA B. MANN

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Woodrow Wilson High School Johns Hopkins University Vassar College

RISA MANN Obituary

MANN Risa B. Mann Risa B. Mann, Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, died at her home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, surrounded by her family, on June 26, 2015. Dr. Mann was born in Washington, DC, to Fannye Fox Berman and Bernard Abraham Berman, DDS. She graduated from the Woodrow Wilson High School in 1964 and attended Vassar College as a Matthew Vassar Scholar. After two years at Vassar, where she was a member of the Daisy Chain, she pursued a combined B.A./M.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University; she graduated with honors, and was third in her medical school class of ninety-five students. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and theAlpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. After college, Dr. Mann was an intern, resident and chief resident in the Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins. Aside from two years as a Senior Staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health in the Hematopathology Section of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Mann remained at Johns Hopkins for her entire career. She was promoted to full professor in 1995 and retired in 2004. Dr. Mann was the forty-fourth woman to serve as a full professor in the history of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Mann's research focused on three areas: the characterization of the relationship of the Epstein-Barr virus and lympho proliferative disorders; the clinical pathological correlation of hematologic malignancies; and the classification of lymphomas for the National Cancer Institute, as a member of the National Pathology Panel for Lymphoma Clinical Studies. Dr. Mann wrote numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and contributed to major books on pathology. She lectured widely, both in the United States and abroad. She was a member of many professional societies, including the International Academy of Pathologists and the Society for Hematopathology. She also held several consultant appointments, including with the U.S. and Canadian Academy of Pathology, served on the Board of Editors of Modern Pathology and was a reviewer for numerous professional publications. In addition, Dr. Mann taught pathology to second-year medical students, for which she won a Faculty Teaching Award. During her tenure, she introduced her students and colleagues to the story of Dr. Dorothy Reed Mendenhall (1874-1964), a fellow Hopkins Medical School graduate and a pioneering female pathologist who identified the Reed-Sternberg cell that characterizes Hodgkin's disease. Dr. Reed's work was the subject of Dr. Mann's Dean's Lecture, delivered at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine on September 20th, 2002. In many ways, Dr. Mann continued the legacy of Dr. Reed Mendenhall, both in the areas of advancing women in medicine and in our understanding of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. While at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Mann sat on several hospital committees, Professorial Promotions Committees and Search Committees for the chairs of several departments of Johns Hopkins Hospital, including the departments of Medicine and Ophthalmology. In addition to her clinical practice, her research and her many administrative roles, Dr. Mann served as the head of the residency-training program for the Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins for seventeen years. As the current chairman of the Department of Pathology, Dr. Ralph Hruban, stated, "Risa was the heart and soul of the Department of Pathology for more than two decades." In that role she worked to recruit the best and brightest doctors to the Johns Hopkins Department of Pathology. She also served a role model and mentor to countless younger doctors and medical students-as well known for her diagnostic abilities as she was for her sense of style, her warmth and her devotion to the residents and fellows she trained. In fact, she came to know her students professionally and personally and remained in contact with many of them until her death. She will be remembered not only as an excellent diagnostician but also as the best dressed and best looking doctor behind a microscope. Dr. Mann was married for forty-eight years to Dr. John J. Mann, also on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and is survived by him and by their two daughters, Gilda M. Zimmet (Brian Zimmet) and Stacie M. Kronthal (Eric Kronthal). The Drs. Mann not only enjoyed a long and happy marriage, but were also able to collaborate on many cases. Five grandchildren- Aaron, William, Flora, Jacob and Henry-also survive her. Dr. Mann has one sister, Judith Lipnick, who survives her, as well as several nieces and nephews. The funeral will be at Ohr Kodesh Congregation, 8300 Meadowbrook Lane, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 28. To make a tax deductible donation in memory of Risa B. Mann that will go to support resident education and research in the Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins, please make your check payable to "Johns Hopkins University," write "in memory of Risa B. Mann" in the memo section, and send to: The Fund for Johns Hopkins Department Programs 550 North Broadway, Suite 701B Baltimore, Maryland 21205 If you wish to make your donation online, please visit the Department of Pathology website - http://pathology.jhu.edu/">pathology.jhu.edu/. Click on "donate" and designate gift to support "Risa B. Mann, M.D. Fund" in memory of Risa Mann.If you wish to make your donation online, please visit the Department of Pathology website - http://pathology.jhu.edu/. Click on "donate" and designate gift to support "Risa B. Mann, M.D. Fund" in memory of Risa Mann.

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Published by The Washington Post on Jun. 28, 2015.

Memories and Condolences
for RISA MANN

7 Entries

Sheldon Bastacky

June 22, 2019

Risa Mann was a wonderful pathologist, mentor to myself and many others, and most important a kind and caring person. I was so fortunate to have known her and to have been recruited by her as one of her residents. She taught me pathology and so much more. She is in my thoughts and prayers.

Gerson Paull, M.D.

July 2, 2015

Maya Angelou said "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Dr. Mann made so many young pathologists-in-training feel good. She had class. I've heard it said that you are not truly dead until the last time someone utters your name. In this case, Dr. Risa Mann will live on, as the many people whose lives she touched in a positive way will speak of her indefinitely.

Michael Weinstein

June 28, 2015

Dr. Mann was such an extraordinary mix of jewish mother, academic physician, and fashion plate. I truly enjoyed sitting across the 'scope from her at sign out. She was an excellent teacher - with a deep and broad understanding of surgical pathology and a high standard of excellence that was a matter of habit for her. And who knew what interesting world topics would pop up as asides? I admired her and had real affection for her.

seema Mathew

June 28, 2015

Risa Mann was the first female pathologist that I met when I interviewed. She immediately put me at ease and made me want to be part of the Hopkins family. She was a mentor in the truest sense of the word. She made us female pathologists know that we "could have it all" just by her example. She was an all-round wonderful person and diagnostician.

June 28, 2015

Dear John, Gilda and Stacie,

I'm a pathologist working at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and was a former pathology resident at Hopkins from 1987-1994. When I applied to the Hopkins residency program in 1986, your mom was the residency program director. After I submitted my application, I had some reservations concerned that people at Hopkins might be sterile and elitist. But I was wrong just the opposite. The first person who contacted me on the phone was Risa Mann. She was so kind and warm and welcoming. And what I came to realize after coming into the program was that this was not a calculated method of enticing prospective applicants into the program; rather, this was the way she treated everyone she interacted with, like a member of her family.

Risa was an outstanding and accomplished all-around academic surgical pathologist and hematopathologist, a gifted teacher and winner of the residents' teaching award, mentor, and most importantly, a role model and mensch. The love and passion for pathology that Risa felt has become internalized in each of her residents, and her influence has had a profound effect on how each of us practices pathology and treats others. She taught us to always try to do our best, that we should treat every patient's pathology specimen and diagnosis in the same manner we would if the patient was a part of our family. When training in a very special pathology department in a hospital with a such a rich history and tradition of excellence with many of the best pathologists in the world (Risa included in this select group), it's easy to allow one's ego to inflate one's own self-importance. Risa reminded each of us to maintain a sense of humility and respect for others.

Risa loved her family, the most important part of her life. She always spoke so highly of all of you. Gilda and Stacie, your mom always had such a glow when talking about you and your accomplishments, and was so proud of the young women you had become.

Louise and I were very saddened to learn of Risa's illness and recent passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family at this difficult time. May God be with you, always.

With sympathy and love,
Sheldon and Louise Bastacky

Dr. Rennae Anderson

June 28, 2015

Risa Mann's life was a remarkable encouragement to so many. Her contributions to the residents she mentored will be felt for a lifetime. Thank you Risa.

David Liss

June 28, 2015

While we are all unique, I've never met anyone else remotely like Risa, and I know I never again will. I loved her, as her mother-in-law Helen would have said, "with all my heart."

Her memory will always be a blessing and a beacon to me and to countless others.

My love to John, Gilda, Stacie, Brian, Eric, Judy, Stan, Oscar, Amy, and their entire families.

While I desperately wish she was stil physically present, I feel much luckier than I deserve to have known Risa and experienced her generosity, thoughtfulness, humor, love, and warmth.

There's no doubt she will live forever in the many lives she so poignantly influenced.

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