WERB, Dr. Zena - A dedicated daughter, sister, aunt, great-aunt, cousin, friend, mentor and colleague, Zena passed away suddenly on June 16, 2020 at her home in San Francisco.
Zena was a world renowned cell biologist, award-winning pioneer in cancer research, mentor and inspiration to many researchers, and trailblazing advocate for women in science.
Born to refugee parents during World War II in March 1945, Zena's family moved to Saskatchewan followed by a farm in Ontario. Zena quickly emerged from her early education at a rural one room schoolhouse to study, first at the University of Toronto, followed by graduate work at Rockefeller University, New York, and postdoctoral studies in Cambridge, UK.
She worked at Dartmouth Medical School before finding her academic home and establishing herself as a pioneering researcher for over 40 years at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), eventually taking on the roles of Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Anatomy.
She was also the co- leader of the Cancer, Immunity, and Microenvironment Program at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and a member of the Executive Committee of the Sabre-Sandler Asthma Basic Research Center at UCSF. Her research group at the Werb laboratory (UCSF) studies the extracellular matrix microenvironment and its component proteases, particularly matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs).
She received many international accolades and honours throughout her career for her influential work on MMPs expression in cancer development and tumour formation, most notably winning the E.B. Wilson Medal from the American Society for Cell Biology in 2007. She was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and member of the United States National Academy of Science with a lifetime achievement award from Women in Cell Biology and a UCSF lifetime achievement award in mentoring. Her work continues to be influential with over 40,000 citations in the last five years alone.
She was actively involved in research, university service, and mentorship of many early career biologists until the very end of her life.
A life-long reader, chef, and enthusiastic world traveler, Zena was also a loyal contributor and supporter of the symphony, museums, and art galleries. She would often host spring break visits at her house in California, showering her family with eclectic and thoughtful gifts from her work and travels.
She is predeceased by her parents Charles and Sonia and will be greatly missed by her sister Marsha (Edward), brother Wadey, nieces Debra (Jacob) and Naomi, and great nephews Max and Reuben.
The loss to her San Francisco friends, colleagues, lab staff and the international scientific community has already been felt through their tributes and words of appreciation for her work, advocacy, and mentorship.
A small funeral for immediate family will be held in Toronto with information about a larger memorial for friends, family and colleagues to be circulated soon.
In lieu of gifts, the family is requesting donations to the Benjamin Foundation (Zena Werb) and funds will be directed to the UCSF Department of Anatomy.
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