Press Statement 09-002
Statement by Arden L. Bement, Jr., Director, National Science Foundation, on the Death of Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald
June 24, 2009
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We at the National Science Foundation and U.S. Antarctic Program are saddened to hear the news of the death of Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald on Tuesday, June 23, 2009.
During her time as the physician at NSF's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Dr. FitzGerald was a dedicated member of the station team, and we will always be appreciative of her service to the US Antarctic Program and the scientific mission that continues there.
Dr. FitzGerald's cancer diagnosis while at the station and her subsequent evacuation in October of 1999 made her a public figure through circumstance and not through choice, yet she was able to inspire and educate others diagnosed with the disease and continue practicing medicine. We extend our sympathies to her family, colleagues and community as they mourn her loss.
NSF manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, though which it coordinates all U.S. scientific research on the southernmost continent.
-NSF-
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