About Marsha

On April 23rd, 2008, Dr. Marsha Goldstein Basson passed away after a one and one half year valiant battle with pancreatic cancer. Marsha was born in 1959 in Massachusetts, where her father, Rabbi Dr. Noah Goldstein was the Rabbi of the Jewish community of Peabody, Massachusetts. Marsha grew up in Manhattan, along with her 4 sisters and brother, where the family moved after her father became a lecturer in Talmudic Studies at the Manhattan Talmudical Academy of Yeshiva University. After graduating Magna cum laude from City College of New York with a B.S. in Nursing, Marsha worked as a ward and CCU nurse at several hospitals including Mt. Sinai and Einstein. Marsha enjoyed the humanistic aspects of nursing and developed warm relationships with many of her patients that extended well beyond their discharge.

After several years as a nurse, she was inspired by her close interactions with many physicians to pursue a career in medicine. While continuing to work as a nurse, Marsha completed the Columbia post-baccalaureate Pre-medical program in 1985. Marsha graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1989 and her outstanding academic performance was recognized by her election to the medical honor society, AOA. Marsha then did an internship in Internal Medicine at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, a residency in Pathology at Einstein, a Fellowship in Surgical Pathology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and a Fellowship in Hematopathology and Molecular Pathology at New York University. She was a Diplomate of the American Board of Pathology in both Anatomic Pathology and Hematology. Marsha pursued her academic career at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where she was Director of Hematopathology and co-authored papers that were published in leading journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Immunity, Journal of Immunology and Blood. Some of these papers were co-authored with her brother, Dr. Harris Goldstein, and her husband, Dr. Craig Basson. Marsha's reputation as an outstanding diagnostic pathologist led to her recruitment as Director of Immunohistochemistry at BioReference Laboratories.

Marsha had tremendous empathy and sensitivity to the needs of others, particularly vulnerable individuals, underdogs and those less fortunate to whom she extended her incredibly generous spirit. She felt the weight of other people's burdens as if they were her own and was a strong medical advocate for her patients, family and friends. Even before her own unfortunate illness, Marsha was passionate about deciphering basic mechanisms underlying disease to promote new cures for patients. She believed strongly in finding new ways to educate doctors and patients alike and to extend the highest quality care to all. In parallel with her very successful medical career, Marsha married Dr. Craig Basson, the Director of Cardiovascular Research at Cornell Medical College, and was a wonderful and caring mother to her daughters Ariela and Bayley and son Noah, all of whom she loved dearly. In Marsha's memory, Marsha's family has established the Marsha M. Goldstein Basson Memorial Fund to support the fight against pancreatic cancer.