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In Memoriam: Elizabeth Ziegler, M.D.

Elizabeth Ziegler, M.D., Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, died at The Springs Rehabilitation Facility of Pacific Regents on January 2, 2006, following complications of diabetes. She was 63. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 7 at the New Life Presbyterian Church of La Mesa, 5333 Lake Murray Blvd.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Bethany Relief and Rehabilitation International, PO Box 3811, Orange CA 92857, which supports the work of her medical school classmate, Dr. Richard Bransford, at Childrens Rehabilitation Surgical Facility in Kijabe, Kenya. Alternately, donations may be sent to the Bach Collegium San Diego, PO Box 33754, San Diego, CA 92163, which produces orchestral, choral and liturgical works of J.S. Bach in the San Diego area several times a year under the direction of Mr. Ruben Valenzuela.

Dr. Ziegler received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College and her Doctor of Medicine degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She performed a residency in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins and at The Presbyterian Hospital (New York). Following a research fellowship with Dr. Abraham Braude, an international authority on infectious diseases and the founding head of the UCSD Division of Infectious Diseases, she joined the UCSD faculty in 1973 and retired in 2002, the year she was honored as one of the first recipients of the UCSD Health Sciences Faculty Award of Excellence in recognition of her teaching excellence. She was similarly honored several times over the years as an outstanding teacher and inspiring mentor by UCSD’s medical residents.

Dr. Ziegler was also a respected researcher and a distinguished clinician. She collaborated with Braude and went on to lead groundbreaking work in her field, including demonstrating the role of a human monoclonal antibody in treating gram-negative septic shock in patients. This paper was published in The New England Journal of Medicine with Dr. Ziegler as first author.

Dr. Ziegler was a Master of the American College of Physicians, a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Society for Microbiology, the American Federation for Clinical Research, the American Association of Immunologists, the International Endotoxin Society, and the New York Academy of Sciences, among others. She also had served on the Bacteriology and Mycology Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. She was recipient of the Paul A. Siple Award for Achievement in Army Research, the Michigan Infectious Disease Society Distinguished Service Award, and held several visiting lectureships and professorships during her career.

In addition to her scholarly and clinical work, she had a great love of classical music, with a special love for baroque music. Another great joy of her life was teaching the 2-3 year old Sunday School children at her church the great hymns of her faith.

She is survived by her husband, Dr. Thomas Ziegler, who was a faculty member in the Division of Nephrology at UCSD School of Medicine and Director of the Dialysis Unit at the San Diego Veterans Affairs San Diego Health System until he retired in 2001. She is also survived by her two brothers, Peter and David Jansson and their wives, Karen and Libby, as well as her niece Georgia Jansson-Williams of Moscow, Russia and her nephew Eric Van Kampen-Jansson of England.

David N. Bailey, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences at UCSD, noted that “Elizabeth Ziegler was truly one of a kind, excelling at the bedside, in the laboratory, and in the classroom. However, it was her compassion for patients, students, and colleagues that I will most fondly remember.” Lynette Corbeil, head of the Division of Comparative Pathology and Medicine at UCSD, said "Elizabeth was a person of utmost integrity and highest standards. As noted by others, she was an excellent clinician, teacher and scientist. I will remember her most as a wonderful friend, a precious prayer partner and a stimulating colleague."

Edward W. Holmes Vice Chancellor, Health Sciences Dean, School of Medicine