University News
WIU Bella Hearst Diabetes Institute to Hold Memorial Service in Honor of Namesake
April 22, 2008
MACOMB, IL -- The Western Illinois University Bella Hearst Diabetes Institute will host a memorial service for Dr. Hearst at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 29 at The Elms in Macomb.
Hearst, a former staff physician at Western's Beu Health Center and health sciences faculty emeritus, died Feb. 20 at The Elms Nursing Home. She was 100 years old. In 2004, through a $104,919 grant from Hearst, the departments of dietetics, fashion merchandising and hospitality (DFMH), kinesiology and health sciences, along with the Beu Health Center, established the Bella Hearst Diabetic Institute at WIU to conduct research on the prevention and control of diabetes and to provide individualized treatment and education for incoming diabetic freshmen.
An outdoor fountain and plaque commemorating Heart's life and accomplishments will be dedicated at the April 29 memorial service, which is open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
Hearst received her medical degree in 1950 and worked as a staff physician at the Beu Health Center from 1972-73. She was also an associate professor of health sciences at WIU. Hearst was noted worldwide for her research on diabetes, and she was named a human reference source in the Library of Human Resources by the American Bicentennial Research Institute. She set up a pathology department at Hospital O'Horan in Mexico, and in 1962 she was the only American woman chosen to present a paper before the Eighth International Congress on Cancer in Russia.
Posted By: Darcie Shinberger (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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