Dr. Risa B. Mann, professor emeritus of pathology and oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where she also headed the residency-training program for the Department of Pathology for 20 years, died June 26 at her Chevy Chase home of nonsmoking lung cancer. She was 69.
"She trained several generations of Hopkins pathologists and was highly regarded nationally and internationally," said Dr. Richard F. Ambinder, a medical oncologist at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
"She played an important role in Epstein-Barr tumors regarding special biopsy techniques that have become standard worldwide," said Dr. Ambinder, who described Dr. Mann as "delightful to work with and an engaging and outgoing person."
The daughter of Dr. Bernard Abraham Berman, a dentist, and Fannye Fox Berman, a founder of the Bombay Consignment Shop in Chevy Chase, Risa Louise Berman was born and raised in Washington, where she graduated in 1964 from Woodrow Wilson High School.
Dr. Mann attended Vassar College for two years, where she was a member of the Daisy Chain, and then entered the Johns Hopkins University, where she pursued a combined bachelor's and medical degree program.
A member of Phi Beta Kappa, she graduated from Hopkins in 1972 and was third in her medical school class of 95 students. She was also elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society.
Dr. Mann was an intern, resident and chief resident in Hopkins Hospital's department of pathology.
Aside from her two years as a senior staff fellow at the National Institutes of Health in the hematopathology section of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Mann remained at Hopkins throughout her entire career.
She was promoted to full professor in 1995 — the 44th woman to serve as a full professor in the history of the Hopkins School of Medicine.
Dr. Mann's research focused on the characterization of the relationship of Epstein-Barr virus and lymphoproliferative disorders; the clinical pathological correlation of hematologic malignancies; and the classification of lymphomas for the National Cancer Institute, as a member of the National Pathology Panel for Lymphoma Clinical Studies, said her husband of 48 years, Dr. John J. Mann, who is an infectious-diseases expert and a retired Hopkins School of Medicine faculty member.
In addition to her research, Dr. Mann was the author of numerous articles in her field and contributed to major books on pathology. She also lectured widely in the U.S. and abroad.
Dr. Mann taught pathology to second-year medical students. Her cornerstone lecture concerned Dr. Dorothy Reed Mendenhall, a fellow Hopkins School of Medicine graduate and a pioneering female pathologist who identified the Reed-Sternberg cell that characterizes Hodgkin's disease.
In 2002, Dr. Mendenhall's work was the subject of Dr. Mann's Dean's Lecture, which she delivered at the Hopkins School of Medicine.
"In many ways, she continued the legacy of Dr. Mendenhall, both in the areas of advancing women in medicine and in our understanding of Hodgkin's lymphoma," said her husband.
For 17 years, she served as head of the residency training program for the pathology department.
"Risa was the heart and soul of the department," said Dr. Ralph Hruban, current chairman of the department. "In that role she worked to recruit the best and brightest doctors to the Johns Hopkins department of pathology."
He said Dr. Mann was well known for her diagnostic abilities, sense of style, warmth and devotion to the residents and fellows she trained.
Her numerous professional memberships included the International Academy of Pathologists and the Society for Hematopathology. She had served as a consultant to the U.S. and Canadian Academy of Pathology, and was a member of the board of editors of Modern Pathology.
The former Homeland resident, who moved to Chevy Chase a decade ago, retired in 2004.
"In all the thousands of hours I spent with Risa, never once, and I repeat that, never once did I ever hear her mention her incredible intellectual and academic brilliance or her amazing professional attainments," said Shale Stiller, a longtime friend and a partner at DLA Piper US LLP.
"It was rare good fortune that brought to such eminence a woman so unassuming, so retiring, so serene, so gracious to high and low, and so reserved," he said.
"She was the beloved center of her family, esteemed by her professional colleagues, and cherished and loved by her many friends," retired Baltimore Circuit Judge Ellen M. Heller said in her eulogy at Dr. Mann's funeral.
In addition to being a world traveler, Dr. Mann collected Steuben glass, Baccarat paperweights and art.
Services were held Sunday at Ohr Kodesh Congregation in Chevy Chase.
In addition to her husband, Dr. Mann is survived by two daughters, Gilda M. Zimmet and Stacie M. Kronthal, both of Chevy Chase; a sister, Judith Lipnick of Chicago; and five grandchildren.