Vera Nikodem

Last updated
Vera Nikodem
Vera M. Nikodem.jpg
Born1940 (1940)
Czechoslovakia
DiedMay 17, 2018 (age 78)
Alma mater Charles University
Rutgers University
Children2
Scientific career
FieldsMolecular biology
Institutions National Institutes of Health

Vera Marie Nikodem (1940-May 17, 2018) was a Czechoslovak-American molecular biologist who served as a section chief at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Contents

Early life and education

Nikodem was born in 1940 in the former Czechoslovakia during World War II. She graduated from Charles University in 1962 with degrees in chemistry and biology. She escaped communism and moved to the United States in 1967 to join her husband, Zdenek Nikodem who was pursuing graduate studies at Princeton University. Nikodem earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry at Rutgers University in 1975, followed by postdoctoral research at Princeton. [1]

Career

Nikodem and her family moved to the Washington, D.C., area in 1978 and Nikodem began her 30-year career as a molecular biologist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), culminating as a section chief at National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). [1]

Personal life

Nikodem retired in 2008 and spent her time in both Georgetown and at her second home in Breckenridge, Colorado. She died on May 17, 2018, at Sibley Memorial Hospital at the age of 78, after a brief battle with acute myeloid leukemia. Nikodem is survived by her husband of 53 years, Zdenek Nikodem, sons David and Gregory, daughters-in-law Mary and Bridget and six grandchildren. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "NIDDK Alumnus Nikodem Mourned". NIH Record. 2018-07-13. Retrieved 2021-08-22.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Institutes of Health.