Jane Ya-Chieh Ma, 77, of Morgantown, passed away on June 28, 2024. She was born on Dec. 15, 1946, to Yu-Chang and Pei-Tsen (Ying) Lee in Shanghai, China.
Jane graduated with distinction from Taipei First Girl High School in 1964 and Fu-Jen Catholic University in 1968 in Taiwan, China. She came to the United States of America in July 1968, pursued graduate studies at Duquesne University and earned her Ph.D.
degree in physical chemistry. Dr. Ma devoted her entire career to scientific research at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Her work involved biochemical studies of coal, silica and diesel particle-induced lung diseases and the search for therapeutic agents to treat these lung diseases. She retired from scientific work in 2016. During her tenure, Dr.
Ma discovered and authored over 100 published scientific works. She received national and international recognitions for her work on the toxicity of silica, diesel and cerine oxide nanoparticles on lung diseases and was the first to establish cerine oxide nanoparticles as a toxic agent for pulmonary fibrosis. Dr.
Ma also established the beneficial effects of the drug tetrandrine to treat pulmonary fibrosis. Among many honors, Dr. Ma provided consultation and invited lectures to scientific institutes in China, South Africa and Taiwan and was a recipient of a distinguished service award for her 35-year service for the people of the United States of America by the Centers for Disease Control and Prev.
