SUBJECT:

Passing of Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology and Pathology, Robert R. Myers, PhD

Robert (Bob) R. Myers, Emeritus Professor of Anesthesiology and Pathology at UC San Diego passed away on April 19, 2018 from a glioblastoma at the age of 72 in his hometown of Carlsbad, CA where his mother once served as a city mayor.

An illustrious researcher in the study of peripheral nerve and neuropathic pain, counting over 200 publications, Bob decided to pursue science during his service at the U.S. Army Security Agency (1964-1968). Flying with seasoned engineers at Special Activity Detachment-1 on PR9 aircraft from Shemya AFB and Japan earned Bob a Commendation Medal for contributions to National Security Agency programs and inspired his love for both engineering and Japan. Bob received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at UC San Diego, where he subsequently had a 30 year-long (1976-2006) decorated career. Bob was the first Ph.D. faculty member of Anesthesiology at UC San Diego, recruited in 1976 by Drs. Lawrence Saidman and Harvey Shapiro to foster a new research program. He led the initial program expansion by helping to recruit Dr. Tony Yaksh as Vice-Chair of Research and co-directing a successful NIH training program for over a decade. The Department became among the most cited in the nation, counting over 40 faculty members with active research programs.

Peripheral nerve captured Bob’s heart early in his research path. Under the guidance of a brilliant experimental and clinical neuropathologist, Dr. Peter Lampert, and in a fruitful collaboration then lifelong friendship with Dr. Henry Powell at UC San Diego, Bob helped to develop the first minimally invasive method for direct measurement of endoneurial blood flow. Their finding that myelin swelling would precipitate axonal degeneration due to ischemia relied on Bob’s ingenuity in designing micropipettes. Bob joined the Department of Pathology at UC San Diego in 1990, where in addition to the study of microcirculation and neuropathology, his legacy of elegant investigation included work with his trainees then faculty, Drs. Andrew Mizisin and Michael Kalichman, on Schwann cell and macrophage function in traumatic, toxic, and metabolic nerve injury. A long-standing Peripheral Nerve Society (PNS) member, Bob served as a PNS Board member (1996-2006) and Secretary Treasurer (2001-2007). He hosted a formative 1999 PNS meeting in La Jolla, California, which set the standard as an open, diverse and inclusive society. As Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System (JPNS, 1997-2007), Bob’s work was vital in establishing the journal and bringing it to indexed status.

A pioneer in the field of immune pathogenesis of chronic pain, Bob established the key role for non-neuronal (glial and immune) cell and inflammatory cytokine action in pain facilitation. Based on his groundbreaking research, Bob was awarded the prestigious Senator Jacob Javits Award in Neuroscience by the NIH Council. The investigations which evolved resulted in seminal papers on the cytokine mechanisms that contribute to the development of the chronic neuropathic pain state. They began in the early 1990's and continue as part of his legacy in the works of his former trainees and leaders in the field, Drs. Claudia Sommer, Wendy Campana and Veronica Shubayev. As mentor to these and numerous other fellows and junior faculty at UC San Diego and from around the world, Bob provided ample creative freedom, opportunities and resources to explore and expand scientific interests, fostered their independent careers and showed a way for balanced life and lasting friendships among colleagues. Beyond his numerous scientific and academic contributions, we remember Bob as a gentleman ambassador of science. His qualities of calm statesmanship, confidence and intellectual openness stood out and were appreciated by his colleagues.

Bob’s work in elucidating mechanisms of low back pain caused by nerve root compression and herniation of the nucleus pulposus from intervertebral discs, highly regarded by spine surgeons, was awarded the Presidential Lectureship and two (2000 and 2003) International Society for Study of the Lumbar Spine Best Basic Science prizes. Bob studied mechanisms of titanium-bone integration (osseointegration) and osseoperception with renowned orthopedic surgeons from University of Gothenburg in Sweden, including Dr. P.I. Branemark, a father of modern dental implantology who discovered this phenomenon, and Dr. Bjorn Rydevik, who became a lifelong friend and colleague. As Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) researcher (1976-2006) and Senior Research Career Scientist, Bob spearheaded use of an orthopedic osseointegration surgery approach for US Veterans. With the team of Japanese orthopedic surgeons lead by Professor Shinichi Kikuchi at Fukushima University, Bob established a major research legacy and mentorship in Japan, which fostered the International Study Group for Nerve and Spine, enduring friendships and his deep love for Japanese culture, aesthetics, food, sakura, fishing boats and Wabi-Sabi.

An avid photographer and an arts enthusiast, Bob was a member of Swedish Academy of Arts and Sciences. He helped shape the architectural landscape of UC San Diego, as member then Chair of the Senate Committee on Campus Community & Environment, member then Co-Chair of the Chancellor's Committee on Planning & Construction and as Senate-wide representative to the Chancellor's Design Review Board. Bob’s personal gift of a fountain is gracing UCSD Faculty Club’s courtyard. As an early riser, Bob made beautiful photographs of UC San Diego architecture at dawn, which he exhibited among his other works of Science as Art series. With unique artistic sensibility and insight, his photographs capture subtle beauty of life, in a macrophage squeezing through the blood-nerve barrier, an abandoned farmhouse in a vastness of a land, abstract waves of dripping blue paint of a chemical track, or a raw self-portrait at the Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego.

Glioblastoma is a grim diagnosis. Bob bore the burden of his illness with unparalleled grace, courage, humility, humor and a positive yet realistic attitude. Understated and diplomatic, he was full of gratitude for his fulfilled life, for the love, care and dedication of his wife Marilyn, son Byron Myers and Byron’s success as co-founder of a portable, oxygen concentrator company Inogen Inc, his granddaughters and daughter-in-law, twin sister, extended family and many dear friends. Bob was a renaissance man and a rare breed of scientist, who will be sorely missed by friends and colleagues.

David A. Brenner Vice Chancellor- Health Sciences Ruth S. Waterman Interim Chair Department of Anesthesiology Steven L. Gonias Chair Department of Pathology