Margaret Hawkins Abbott, a retired Johns Hopkins Medical School genetics researcher who investigated families with inherited conditions for nearly five decades, died of dementia complications Feb. 1 at Keswick Multi-Care Center. She was 89 and lived in Ruxton.
“She was a Johns Hopkins institution,” said Dr. Jason Brandt, Johns Hopkins Medical School director of medical psychology and professor of psychiatry. “She dedicated her career to nursing and genetic diseases and to ferreting out family medical histories.”
“She was a phenomenon,” said Dr. Brandt. “Margaret had an exacting style and insisted on doing everything the proper way. But her clinical manner with patients was always gentle, warm and absolutely amazing. Her devotion to her work was inspirational.”