Susan Preston-Martin, a former faculty member at USC’s Dept. of Preventive Medicine, died of breast cancer at her home on Sunday morning, November 13th.
Susan was born in 1942 in New York, but grew up in Swarthmore, PA where she attended Swarthmore High School and Swarthmore College. She received her BA in Psychology from Swarthmore in 1963 and continued her education at UCLA, earning a Ph. D. in Epidemiology in 1974.
Susan went on to be the first woman Fellow at University of Southern California. She joined the faculty in 1974 and remained a member until her retirement in 2006. Susan’s research focused mainly on the effects of low-level ionizing radiation. She was a world-recognized epidemiologist, leading international consortia on childhood leukemias and brain cancer, giving presentations at conferences around the world throughout her career, and conducting research during sabbaticals in France (1985-86), New Zealand and Australia (1991-92), and South Africa (2000-01). She was the first female scientist to receive a Visiting Scientist Award at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (1984-85) while on sabbatical in France. She was admired by her colleagues and also played an instrumental role as a mentor to many junior faculty.
Susan loved traveling and with her beloved husband, David Williams, went to almost every country in the world absorbing new cultures, making lasting friendships, and snorkeling, SCUBA diving and skiing, whenever possible. She regularly and enthusiastically kept in touch with friends from all parts of her life and received great joy from the relationships she had with her grandchildren. She was a good listener, a deep thinker, a generous support to many, and was always up for a new adventure! She also loved good food and socializing, as well as hiking in the Santa Monica mountains and swimming at the UCLA recreation center. She is survived by her husband; her daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Alex Borja; her steps sons and daughter -in-law, Chris Williams, Coburn & Jill Williams as well as her four loving grandchildren – Austin & Zoe Borja, Taylor & Nicholas Williams; and by her brother Dave Preston, sister Nell Clark, and nieces and nephews Sarah Preston, David Preston, Amy Clark, and Ben Clark.
