Kaplan, J. et al.
Some PhDs really can do it all! Esteemed molecular biologist Harvey Block, PhD, passed away suddenly yesterday with an h-index of 46. He was 43.
Well-liked and, more importantly, well-cited, Block was a tenured professor at Stanford with publications in Nature, Science, and ironically, Cell Death & Disease. A self-proclaimed lab rat, Block spent much of his high-impact life behind a biological safety hood, simultaneously pipetting and prepping for lab meetings months in advance. His impressive ability to multitask was on full display right until the very end, when he walked into oncoming traffic while typing up reviewer comments on his phone.
When not nailing impeccably-documented experiments or spending productive weekends writing manuscripts in a coffee shop, Block was an avid runner who enjoyed listening to recorded conference symposiums on his 6am jogs. Sources confirm his exercise paid off—Block had a chili pepper rating on Rate My Professor for 6 years in a row.
“Harvey was an excellent scientist who dedicated his life to the pursuit of knowledge,” wrote department chair Srini Vikram in a statement emailed to his 23-person lab. “We will all miss his warm smile and multimillion-dollar unrestricted grants.”
At press time, a postdoc from the lab was overheard informing his peers that a just-released paper in Cell disproved every finding Block published during his lifetime.
