RENO - Dr. Sandra A. Daugherty, a University of Nevada Medical School professor who helped secure the largest grant ever awarded to the state's university system, has died.
Daugherty died Wednesday after a lengthy illness. She was 65.
She is credited with securing an $8.5 million grant for Nevada's part in a 12-year National Institutes of Health study of 160,000 women.
She was the first woman to be made a full professor at the medical school, where she taught for 19 years.
In 1980, she received the Albert Lasker Award for a study that helped support the idea that doctors need to actively treat high blood pressure.
In addition to studying high blood pressure and heart disease, Daugherty also studied mercury levels in Dayton residents and researched how bad habits of Nevada residents affected their health.
She also conducted a study on chronic fatigue syndrome at Incline Village to show it was a disease and not a psychological malady.
Daugherty is survived by her husband, Dr. Robert M. Daugherty, former dean at the medical school; a daughter; two sons and a sister.