JoAnn Franck, PhD ’68

JoAnn Franck graduated from Ballard High School in 1968 and earned her BS in Psychology from the University of Washington in 1972. In 1975, she received her MS from Villanova University and was awarded her PhD in Neurophysiological Psychology from the University of Rochester in 1981. JoAnn returned to the University of Washington in 1982 as a post-doctoral fellow and in 1985 was appointed to the faculty of the School of Medicine where she was Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery.

JoAnn’s primary research was relevant to the treatment of epilepsy and to recovery from strokes. She was a frequent lecturer at symposiums worldwide and was published regularly in neuroscience journals. She was an active member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society for Neuroscience and the American Epilepsy Society. Her research was supported by financial awards from the Society to Combat Huntington’s Disease, the National Institute of Health, the Epilepsy Foundation of America and from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Following Dr. Franck’s premature death at age 42, the University of Washington Medical Center dedicated their new laboratory to her, naming it The JoAnn E. Franck Memorial Laboratory. During the following years, five annual JoAnn E. Franck Memorial Lecture Series on Brain Research by visiting scientists were held at the University of Washington Medical Center.

As stated in a memoriam written by the Director of her department at the University of Washington Medical Center, “In her much too short career, JoAnn established herself as a productive and imaginative scientist.”