Roselyn (Roz) Eisenberg, professor emerita of pathobiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, died on March 14 after a fall and short illness. She was 79.

Dr. Eisenberg earned her AB in biology from Bryn Mawr College in 1960 and her PhD in microbiology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965. She completed her post-doctorate at Princeton University before being hired by the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 as a lecturer in microbiology in the School of Dental Medicine. The next year she became an assistant professor. 

She was one of several women in the early days of the women’s movement who filed a lawsuit against the University over discrimination based on sex, related to denial of tenure; the case was settled and she was given a seven-year tenure probationary period (Almanac September 19, 1978).

In 1978, she joined the School of Veterinary Medicine as an assistant professor in pathobiology. She went on to become an associate professor and then in 1985 she was promoted to professor in the Vet School. 

While a professor and head of a Laboratory of Microbiology & Immunology in the Vet School, she collaborated on a vaccine to counter the ill effects of vaccinia virus and confer additional protection against smallpox (Almanac September 16, 2003). She also filed a patent application for herpes simplex vaccine while at Vet School, collaborating with Gary Cohen in Penn’s Dental School, and later received funding from the NIH for this research (Almanac March 1, 1988).

She was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and won multiple University Research Foundation Awards. She also earned a Penn Professional Women’s Award, the Lenore Rowe Williams Award (Almanac May 9, 2006).

She served on numerous committees, including the Consultative Review Committee on the Reappointment of Joan Hendricks as Dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine and the consultative committee for selection of a provost in 2004. She also served on several Faculty Senate committees, including Academic Freedom and Responsibility, Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics, Faculty Grievance Commission, and Open Expression. 

She was also among a number of senior women faculty concerned about the morale and security of the women students on campus (Almanac February 14, 1984; September 14, 1999). She retired in 2018, earning emerita status at that time. She spent the last two years of her life in Davis, California. While there she worked on the retirement center’s monthly newsletter and led a science-scholarship discussion group.

Dr. Eisenberg is survived by children, Jeff Eisenberg and Ruth Anne Robbins; children-in-law, Jennifer Jett and Steve Robbins; and grandchildren, Shelby Robbins and Gwen Robbins.

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