{"id":152758,"date":"2021-12-07T11:58:06","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T21:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=152758"},"modified":"2021-12-07T12:00:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T22:00:57","slug":"in-memoriam-marita-lee-nelson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/12\/07\/in-memoriam-marita-lee-nelson\/","title":{"rendered":"In memoriam: Professor Emerita Marita Nelson, dedicated UH<\/abbr> advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Marita
Marita Lee Nelson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa Anatomy Professor Emerita Marita Lee Nelson<\/strong>, who served as the longtime director of the Willed Body Program<\/a> at the John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a> (JABSOM<\/abbr>), died on August 8, 2021. Family, friends and colleagues held a virtual celebration of life in her honor on December 4.<\/p>\n

After an illustrious academic career on the U.S.<\/abbr> mainland, Nelson joined the JABSOM<\/abbr> faculty in 1974 as professor of clinical anatomy in the Department of Anatomy and Reproductive Biology. She taught until her retirement in 2002.<\/p>\n

During the early 1990s, she was instrumental in the transition of the traditional curriculum to the problem based learning system JABSOM<\/abbr> uses to teach its medical students. <\/p>\n

“She worked tirelessly as an advocate for education both within JABSOM<\/abbr> and throughout the UH<\/abbr> System and greatly expanded enrollments in undergraduate anatomy and physiology at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa,” said Scott Lozanoff<\/strong>, professor and former chair of the Department of Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology<\/a>. “Marita was committed to faculty governance and she served on many JABSOM<\/abbr> and UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa committees, most notably UH<\/abbr> Faculty Senate.”<\/p>\n

According to her brother, Robert William Nelson of Maui, Nelson received awards for all of her teaching positions prior to joining JABSOM<\/abbr>, and kept the momentum going by receiving the Excellence in Teaching award from UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa in 1985. She also remained an emeritus professor and an active member of the UH<\/abbr> Professional Assembly throughout her retirement.<\/p>\n

Robert Nelson added that his sister sang in the Honolulu Symphony Chorus and also the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Opera Theatre for which she sang and performed in 17 different operas. As a member of the Waiokeola Congregational Church and also at the Church of the Crossroads, she sang in both choirs and served as a moderator at both churches. Lozanoff also shared that Marita Nelson was a world traveler who enjoyed exploring new places and meeting new people. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The longtime director of the Willed Body Program at the medical school died on August 8, 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[756,31,9],"class_list":["post-152758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-in-memoriam","tag-john-a-burns-school-of-medicine","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t