In Memoriam: Patricia Martin Rodier (1944-2012)

Patricia M. Rodier, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and a leading scholar in the field of autism research at the University of Rochester Medical Center, died earlier this month at a Rochester hospital. She was 68 years old.

Professor Rodier was a native of Roanoke, Virginia. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Sweet Briar College. She went on to receive a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. She joined the faculty at the University of Rochester in 1980. For her first decade on the faculty, she taught anatomy as a member of the department of toxicology and in 1990 she became a research professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology. There, she presided over several major grant projects funded by the National Institutes of Health on prenatal and early childhood development.