Milton B. Yatvin November 12, 1930–December 13, 2018

Abstract

Milton B. Yatvin, PhD, professor emeritus of radiation oncology at Oregon Health Sciences University, passed away peacefully December 13, 2018, after a brief illness. Yatvin was born in 1930 and he received his PhD in 1962 from Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey. Milton worked from1963–1988 at University of Wisconsin Medical University starting as Assistant Professor, and thereafter in several positions such as Professor and Section Head of Radiobiology, Professor of Human Oncology and Radiology and from 1983 Associate Director of Research, Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center. During this period Milton was also invited as guest scientist to several renowned universities and institutes, e.g., Center for Nuclear Studies, Mol, Belgium (1969–1970), MRC Radiopathology Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, London, England (1973), Biophysics Institute, University of Freiburg, Germany (1979) and Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel (1979–1980). On several occasions Milton was also a visiting professor in the Department of Microbiology, University of Kebangsaan, Malaysia, sponsored by International Atomic Energy Agency. In 1988 Milton was named, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University and shortly thereafter Professor and Director of the Radiation and Thermal Biology Division, Department of Radiation Oncology School. Since 1998 Milton worked as Professor Emeritus at the same department. It is difficult to summarize more than 50 years of scientific work including not only numerous excellent published papers and patents but also Milton’s contributions to conferences, collaborations, as well as a lecturer. In 1974 I met ‘‘Milt’’ in Stockholm, Sweden as a PhD student and became inspired by his open-mindedness and broad scientific knowledge. At that time his pioneering work on the effects of radiation on biological membranes was inspiration for me; over the years Milton has always impressed me with bright new ideas and excellent scientific achievements. Milt published his first scientific papers in 1966 describing basic studies on factors influencing differentiation of cells such as hormonal control of feather development in chick embryos; characterization of cellular and metabolic changes involved in ovulation of frog ovaries. Within a few years these studies resulted in several scientific papers being published in Science, Nature and other highly-ranked journals. Milton then continued working in the field of radiation biology on nucleic acid metabolism in irradiated cells and on DNA damage and repair.