Nancy Lane Perham

Nancy Lane Perham
Born
Nancy Jane Lane

1936
Died (aged 89)
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1969; died 2015)​
Children2
Awardsfellow of Girton College, Cambridge, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, honorary doctorate
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Oxford, Dalhousie University, Lady Margaret Hall
Thesis
  • A cytological study of secretory processes in gastropods, with special reference to the problem of neurosecretion (1963)
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge

Nancy Jane Lane Perham OBE FSB FRSA FRMS (née Lane; 1936 – 23 November 2025) was a Canadian cell biologist and artist, and a full professor at the University of Cambridge who specialised in cell–cell interaction. Lane Perham was an advocate for women in science, chairing the Working Party on Women in SET that produced The Rising Tide report (1993), and co-founding a university accreditation scheme, the Athena Project.[1]

Early life and education

Nancy Jane Lane was born in 1936 to journalist Frances (née Gilbert) and Temple Lane, a civil servant, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.[1] She was educated at Queen Elizabeth High School, where she was advised that women could not be scientists, only lab technicians.[2] She undertook her undergraduate degree and a Masters of Science at Dalhousie University.[3]

After she graduated, she was awarded the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire scholarship, and won the Governor General's Gold Medal, which allowed her to undertake her doctoral study at the University of Oxford.[2] She completed her PhD titled A cytological study of secretory processes in gastropods, with special reference to the problem of neurosecretion at Oxford in 1963.[4]

Academic career

After post-doctoral positions at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and Yale University, Lane Perham joined the faculty of the University of Cambridge in 1968, rising to full professor.[5] She was described as a "brilliant microscopist".[6] Her research focused on cell–cell interaction and cell junctions,[5] such as gap junctions and tight junctions, especially in invertebrates.[7] Besides studying cell structures and interactions, she also painted them. Some of her works appeared on journal covers and some were selected by David Hockney to appear in the Royal Academy of Art's 1995 Summer Exhibition.[2]

Lane Perham was an advocate for women in science. She was asked by the then Prime Minister, John Major, to chair the Working Party on Women in SET after William Waldegrave's 1993 White Paper on the British science system, Realizing Our Potential, had devoted one whole paragraph to women, but noted that they were the single most undervalued human resource in Britain.[8] The working party produced the 1993 report The Rising Tide.[2][9] Lane Perham co-founded the Athena Project, and was founder of WiSETI, a Cambridge initiative to advance women in science, technology and engineering.[2][9]

Personal life and death

Lane Perham was married to biochemist Richard Nelson Perham, Master of St John's College, from 1969 until his death in 2015. They had two children together.[6][3][10] She died on 23 November 2025, at the age of 89.[11]

Honours and awards

Nancy Lane Perham was a Life Fellow of Girton College at Cambridge.[3] She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1994 for services to science.[12]

She held honorary doctorates from six universities, including from the University of Surrey in 2005.[5][13] She was inducted into the Nova Scotia Science Hall of Fame in 2006.[14]

Selected works

References

  1. ^ a b Schauble, Temple (7 January 2026). "Nancy Lane Perham obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Nancy Jane Lane (MSc'60): Opening the Lab Door – Alumni – Dalhousie University". Dalhousie Alumni. 25 February 2014. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Collection: Papers of Nancy Lane | ArchiveSearch". archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  4. ^ Lane, Nancy Jane (1963). A Cytological study of secretory processes in gastropods, with special reference to the problem of neurosecretion (PhD thesis).
  5. ^ a b c "Dr Nancy Lane Perham | Girton College". www.girton.cam.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 13 June 2025. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  6. ^ a b Berry, Alan; Radford, Sheena E. (December 2018). "Richard Nelson Perham. 27 April 1937—14 February 2015". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 65: 317–339. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2018.0004. ISSN 0080-4606.
  7. ^ Youngman, Abigail (18 December 2025). "Dr Nancy Lane Perham OBE 1936 - 2025". www.zoo.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
  8. ^ Lane, Nancy (1997). "Women in Science, Engineering and Technology: The Rising Tide Report and Beyond". In Maynard, Mary (ed.). Science and the construction of women (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-53401-7.
  9. ^ a b Roberts, Stuart (14 October 2019). "The Rising Tide: Women at Cambridge". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  10. ^ Nancy Lane Perham biography, girton.cam.ac.uk. Accessed 8 December 2025.
  11. ^ "Obituaries – Cambridge University Reporter 6806". www.admin.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  12. ^ "Page 13 | Supplement 53696, 10 June 1994". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  13. ^ "Honorary Degrees of the University of Surrey: 1991–2005". Roehampton University. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Recipients – Discovery Awards". 14 October 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
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