A memorial service for Lee Nelken Robins, Ph.D., professor emeritus of social science in psychiatry, will be held Jan. 16, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. in Graham Chapel. A reception will immediately follow in the Whittemore House.
Robins died Sept. 25, 2009, following a long battle against cancer. She was 87.
Robins was a world leader in psychiatric epidemiology research and had worked in the Department of Psychiatry for more than 50 years. Her early research made key observations about how psychiatric disorders early in life can affect adults, revealing that antisocial behavior in childhood is a major predictor of later psychiatric problems. Those studies forced mental health professionals to rethink topics from teen suicide to drug abuse.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Lee Robins Lectureship in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Ave., Box 8134, St. Louis, MO 63110.