Dr. Bonnie Sloane, Ph.D., passed on Dec. 24, 2023, at age 79. Bonnie Sloane was a distinguished professor and former chair of the Department of Pharmacology at Wayne State University (WSU) School of Medicine. She led the Proteases and Cancer Program from 1999-2005 and the Breast Cancer Biology Program from 2010-2012 at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. Most recently, she was an active member of the Molecular Imaging Research Program.

 

Dr. Sloane’s laboratory has a longstanding interest in the roles of proteolytic pathways in the development and progression of cancer, with an emphasis on the progression of premalignant breast disease to invasive carcinomas. She was pivotal in advancing research and collaboration by co-founding the International Committee on Proteolysis, becoming its first chair, and serving on the board from 1990-1999. Her research group's pioneering work established a role for lysosomal cysteine proteases and their endogenous inhibitors in the malignant progression of cancer. Dr. Sloane was also a visionary leader in implementing cellular imaging in protease. She has collaborated with many Karmanos scientists and scientists in Europe, China, South America, the Middle East, and Australia. She published 183 scientific papers, edited three books, and made over 200 presentations at seminars and meetings worldwide.

 

Dr. Sloane came to WSU in 1980 as an assistant professor. In 1994, she became the chair of the Department of Pharmacology. Her leadership role for Karmanos and close relationship with the National Cancer Institute maintained the connection between Pharmacology and the various cancer-related programs at WSU. She was active in numerous professional societies, including making history as the first woman to become the president of the Association for Medical School Pharmacology Chairs from 1999-2001. Dr. Sloane was also recently named a Class of 2021 fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among many honors she received over her nearly 50-year career.

 

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dr. Sloane graduated valedictorian from Hoover High School in Canton, Ohio, earned a Bachelor of Science in Zoology in 1966 and a Master of Arts in Physiology in 1968 (both degrees from Duke University), and received her Doctorate of Philosophy in Physiology from Rutgers University in 1976 while holding the Charles and Johanna Busch Fellowship.