Commendations & Commencements

In Memoriam

Celebrating the life of Dr. Herbert Tabor (1918 – 2020)

Dr. Herbert Tabor, the world's foremost authority on the enzymatic pathways of polyamines, died on Aug. 20. He served 77 years at the NIH – the longest term of any NIH employee. He was, until his death at age 101, a senior investigator in the NIDDK Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, where he had served as lab chief until 1999.

“His death is such a great loss for the NIH and broader scientific community of a warm, humble, insightful and imaginative man. Dr. Tabor was truly loved and respected by everyone who worked with him, at the NIH and beyond” said Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers, NIDDK director and Dr. Michael Gottesman, deputy director for NIH intramural research, in a message to all NIH staff after his death.

Dr. Tabor and his wife, Celia – also an NIH physician scientist – revealed the many functions served by polyamines, organic compounds that interact with DNA, RNA, and proteins. The Tabors demonstrated that polyamines are required for growth of most organisms; protect against oxidative damage, elevated temperatures, and environmental insults; and help maintain mitochondria and the fidelity of protein biosynthesis. The Tabors lived in commissioned officer housing on the NIH Bethesda campus and raised four children.

Herb and Celia on the side of their house on the NIH campus during a spring lunch break, 1967. Credit: Courtesy of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

“He was a consummate scientist to the very end, working remotely during the pandemic on research papers with NIH colleagues. Aside from leaving a profound scientific legacy, he was the last living voice of the NIH's formative years, having arrived in 1943 to the then recently created Bethesda campus.” said Rodgers and Gottesman.

In a 2019 oral history interview, Dr. Tabor described arriving to the Bethesda campus, “The NIH was a small place then…here I am, a young fellow just out of school, and what do I do? I receive orders to report to the commanding officer. So, I go up to Building 1, to show how different things were then, and I go into the NIH director's office and say: Here I am.”

Credit: Claire Johnson

Dr. Tabor was born in New York City on Nov. 28, 1918, in the midst of the flu pandemic. He grew up during the Great Depression and attended public schools. Dr. Tabor received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in biochemical science in 1937 and medical degree from Harvard in 1941.

Dr. Herbert Tabor’s oldest son, Edward Tabor, M.D., recalled, “My father was dedicated to working at the lab bench up until the last year of his life, and he spent time every day at the bench. Then in the evenings and on weekends he and my mother worked together, writing papers about their own work, writing scientific review articles, and working on editing the journal as well as several volumes in the Methods in Enzymology series. Their example was a way of teaching, and I learned a lot about a life in science just by watching how much they enjoyed the work they did together.”

Tabor’s influence went beyond his family and NIH.

During an internship at Yale New Haven Hospital in 1942, Dr. Tabor saw both the clinical and biochemical worlds. This included the first clinical use of penicillin in the US, a drug that would prove crucial in saving the lives of soldiers fighting in what would soon be labeled World War II. Dr. Tabor assisted in the first administration of penicillin in the United States, curing a deadly case of streptococcal septicemia.

In 1943 during World War II, Dr. Tabor entered the U.S. Public Health Service and became the sole medical officer on the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Duane, which sailed between the United States and England guarding convoys bringing supplies to the British Isles. After one battle at sea, when the Duane sank a German submarine and captured its crew, Dr. Tabor provided medical care to rescued Allied sailors whose ship had just been sunk by the submarine as well as to captured German sailors.

As that year wound down, Dr. Tabor was transferred to the NIH, working under the supervision of Sanford M. Rosenthal, M.D., chief of the Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, now called the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Together they studied electrolyte changes in burns and traumatic shock and determined how to treat such injury using saline instead of plasma, because plasma was in very short supply.

Herb and Sanford Rosenthal sitting in front of an oxygen metabolism apparatus in their laboratory at NIH,1944. Credit: Courtesy of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

No summary of Dr. Tabor's achievements is complete without note of his leadership of the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC). Dr. Tabor joined the JBC editorial board in 1961, became associate editor in 1968, and editor-in-chief in 1971, a position he held until 2010. Dr. Tabor oversaw the journal's expansion from 1,000 to 4,500 published articles per year, and he was the moving force behind its transition to online publishing in 1995. He also created the Minireview Compendium, a yearly compilation of all short reviews published in the JBC.

In 2011, in honor of Dr. Tabor 's scientific and editorial legacy, the JBC established the Dr. Herbert Tabor Young Investigator Awards to recognize early-career first authors of standout JBC papers for their creativity and scientific excellence. Similarly, the Dr. Herbert Tabor Research Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, ASBMB, established in 2004, honors senior investigators.

“Herb left a legacy like none other in JBC’s history,” said Lila Gierasch, editor-in-chief of JBC. “Were it not for Herb, I don’t know what the journal, and the molecular bioscience he helped it shepherd, would look like today.”

Dr. Tabor’s honors are many. He received the Arthur S. Flemming Award in 1956; received the USPHS Meritorious Service Medal in 1970; was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1971; was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1977; received the Hillebrand Prize from the American Chemical Society in 1986; and he and Celia received the William C. Rose Award from the ASBMB in 1994. In honor of his 100th birthday, Montgomery County proclaimed Nov. 28, 2018, as Dr. Herbert Tabor Day.

Dr. Urs Ruegg, who worked at the NIH in the 1970’s, recalls staying briefly with the Tabors in their Bethesda home in later years. “I will always remember how in the mornings a bag with manuscripts that were assembled the day before arrived on their front porch with big noise. At about 6 a.m. Herb would go and get that bag, in which there were about 50 bundles of papers, and decided which co-editor or associate editor would get which manuscript for further handling and review. I was always very impressed with this activity and the intensity of the way Herb talked and carried out science.”

Dr. Tabor was a prolific mentor of other scientists. One of many mentees is Dr. Reed Wickner, who trained under Dr. Tabor and succeeded him as chief of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics in 1999.

"Dr. Tabor taught me how to do science, and his devotion to science set a standard for me to aspire to," Wickner said of his mentor. "His gentle sincerity combined with forthright critical thinking made him a leader throughout his career."

Dr. Tabor is survived by four children —Edward, Marilyn, Richard, and Stanley — as well as 10 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.

To learn more about Dr. Tabor’s life, read:

"It All Started on a Streetcar in Boston" by Drs. Herbert and Cecilia Tabor
Getting to know: Dr. Herbert Tabor
View Dr. Tabor 's 2019 video oral history interview by NIDDK and the Office of NIH History

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has limited the family's ability to hold memorial services. In lieu of flowers, donations are welcome in Dr. Tabor’s name to The Children's Inn at NIH.

Welcome

Dr. Shilpa Hattangadi joined NIDDK as a hematology program director within the Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases. Prior to joining NIDDK, Hattangadi served as assistant professor of pediatric hematology-oncology and pathology at the Yale School of Medicine, where her laboratory focused on terminal erythropoiesis. She also has a clinical background in pediatric hematology and bone marrow failure.

Dr. Brad Cooke joined NIDDK as a program director in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases, where he oversees basic and translational studies on the neural systems that control feeding, energy balance and metabolism. Prior to joining NIDDK, Cooke was an associate professor at the Neuroscience Institute at Georgia State University.

Dr. Eric Brunskill joined NIDDK as a urology program director within the Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases. Brunskill has a background in developing various single-cell genomic technologies and prior to joining NIDDK, he served as an institutional investigator at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where he focused on kidney development and disease.

Dr. Norann Zaghloul joined NIDDK as a program director in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases, where she oversees grants focusing on genetics and genomics of type 2 diabetes and serves as program officer for the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® program for Type 2 Diabetes (AMP®-T2D). Previously she was an associate professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Dr. Miranda Broadney joined NIDDK as a program director in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases to manage a portfolio in pediatric endocrinology and child health with emphasis on insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes throughout the lifespan. She previously led clinical trials in obesity and glucose metabolism and was the interim program director for the Pediatric Endocrinology Training Program at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

A Fond Farewell

Dr. Catherine “Kitty” Cowie, retired from NIDDK after 24 years of federal service, and eight more serving NIDDK as a contractor. Cowie was the program director for epidemiologic research in diabetes in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolic Diseases (DEM). A giant in her field and mentor to many, Cowie oversaw the Diabetes Prevention Trial for Type 1 Diabetes (DPT-1) and the early days of the Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet. In addition, she oversaw the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) long-term follow-up study, called the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC). She was a champion for national health surveys, fostering the collection and analysis of diabetes and related data over decades. She also was the editor of two editions of Diabetes in America, the only U.S. compendium about the epidemiology of diabetes. In 2018, Cowie received the prestigious Kelly West award from the American Diabetes Association for outstanding achievement in epidemiology. Upon retirement, Cowie can continue honing her tennis skills, pursuing her musical and foreign language interests, and, eventually, go back to traveling the world.

Congratulations

Dr. Michael J. Krashes, senior investigator in NIDDK’s Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch, was recently granted tenure. Krashes, who came to the NIH in 2013, now leads the Section on Motivational Processes Underlying Appetite in his branch. His research focuses on the circuits in the brain that underlie hunger and the subsequent acts of obtaining and consuming food, with the goal of identifying how these behaviors might be manipulated to fight obesity and eating disorders.

Dr. Phillip Gorden, NIDDK director emeritus, received the Endocrine Society’s 2021 Fred Conrad Koch Lifetime Achievement Award for his exceptional accomplishments in the field of endocrinology. Gorden, who served as NIDDK director from 1986 to 1999 and is now a section chief in the Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch, has contributed significantly to research advances in diabetes and disorders of the insulin receptor and insulin resistance. The award will be presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in March 2021.

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