Sarah Chinn Kalser

Dr. Sarah Chinn Kalser passed away peacefully on March 4, 2023, surrounded by her loving family.  She was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania in 1929, the youngest of four children.  As a child, she helped her father in his hardware store and enjoyed watching the streetcars in their small town.  

The first woman in her family to go to college, she studied biochemistry at Penn State (’51). Her love of science then took her to Northwestern, where she was among the first women to receive an MA. She earned her PhD at the University of Pittsburgh.

In 1952, she married Ben Kalser, a D-Day veteran and computer engineer.  After living outside of Pittsburgh, they moved to Bethesda and quickly built a vibrant circle of friends and neighbors. Ben and Sarah loved to entertain and Sarah was known for planning amazing menus. They adored their dogs and their shared love of travel took them on adventurous vacations all over the world.

Dr. Kalser worked for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 25 years, delighting in research and collaboration with brilliant colleagues. In time Sarah became one of the first women administrators at NIH. She was the first female grants administrator at what was then the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Disease, and the first female program director at the National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Dr. Kalser’s scientific contributions include foundational research on atropine metabolism and the effect of hypothermia and chronic cold exposure on drug metabolism by the liver. As a project officer, she monitored scientific aspects of research on gallstones that led to the licensure of oral bile acid therapy. She also helped plan an NIH consensus development conference that helped establish liver transplantation as a viable clinical therapy for end-stage liver disease. For these contributions she received numerous honors including the Distinguished Service Award from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the American Gastroenterological Association, the NIH Award of Merit, and the NIH Special Achievement Award. At her retirement, NIH’s The Record quoted esteemed physician Thomas Starzl: “I doubt if anyone on center stage or behind the scenes has ever done more for the development of modern gastroenterology and hepatology than Sarah.”

After Ben died in 1996, Sarah found comfort in her many friends and in Judaism. She became a member of Congregation Beth El and was bat mitzvahed. She continued her vibrant social life, community service, and travel adventures with a tightknit group of friends.

Sarah’s generosity to family and friends was boundless; she gave freely of her love, time, and resources. On the first of every month for 50 years she sent dozens of greeting cards, never missing a birthday, anniversary, or graduation. Sarah could be counted on for frank advice, wit, insight, and unconditional love.

Sarah lived her last chapter at Maplewood Park Place, where she said that the friendships she made at the end of her life were some of the closest. She continued to be an active member of Beth El Synagogue, to entertain, and travel as longs as she was able to.

Sarah is survived by 4 nieces and nephews (Jeff, Sue, Marcia and Gary), 7 great nieces and great nephews (Kim, Laura, Liana, Elise, Miles, Bryna and Steve) and 8 great-greats (Sam, Haley, Ruthie, Reese, Theo, Liam, Elliott, and Eva). She will be greatly missed at Beth El and Maplewood and by her friends and family. Sarah’s legacies live on in each of the people she has touched, as they serve their own communities, make their own contributions to the public good, and continue to embrace life.

Funeral Service will be held on Monday, March 6, 2023,  10 a.m. at Congregation Beth El, 8215 Old Georgetown Rd, Bethesda, MD 20814 with interment to follow at Anshe Neisen Cemetery in Rosedale, Maryland.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Association of Women in Science or your local women’s shelter or refugee organization.