Anne Nicholson Weller, MD, born 8/8/1941, grew up in Haddonfield NJ. Her early interest in medicine was engendered by her uncle Jesse L. Nicholson MD, an orthopedic surgeon. Anne Nicholson graduated from Vassar College in 1963 and matriculated as one of only three women in her medical school class at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, MD, 1968. Anne trained in internal medicine at the then Beth Israel Hospital. Thereafter, pursuing interests in infectious diseases and related immunology, she completed a clinical fellowship in the Boston City Hospital Infectious Diseases Fellowship and then moved to Baltimore for further research training in immunology, beginning her career long interest in the complement system. In 1974 Anne returned to Boston as a physician-scientist/investigator joining the Department of Medicine in the Infectious Diseases (ID) Division at Beth Israel (BI) Hospital and established her complement-focused research laboratory.
As a scientist/investigator, her studies of the complement system provided the basis for understanding and treating a then enigmatic disease, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. Anne’s research identified a new complement regulatory protein that she termed “decay accelerating factor” (DAF), now CD55. As a physician, Anne served as an attending physician in Infectious Diseases in the three sequential BI-affiliated ID programs: BI-Children’s Hospital, BI-BWH and then BIDMC. She also attended in medicine at BI and BIDMC. She was a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an elected member of both ASCI and AAP. She had a long history of volunteer service on research-related committees at BIDMC and Harvard Medical School.
Anne enjoyed walking with her dogs and interacting with friends and family in Wellesley and Boothbay, Maine, where she nurtured a thriving flower garden. She is survived by her husband, Peter F. Weller, MD, her children Susan R. Weller and Nathaniel N. Weller, and a brother John R. Nicholson.
Memorial donations may be made to the Moellering/Karchmer/Weller (MKW) ID Fellows endowment fund payable to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, annotated for MKW ID Fellows Fund and mailed to: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Office of Philanthropy, 529 Main Street, 4th Floor, Charlestown, MA 02129.