It is an honor to have the opportunity to write a remembrance letter for my friend and colleague, Dr. Katherine Sarlo, who passed away last March after courageously fighting a long-term illness. Kathy was born in Brooklyn, NY. She attended the State University of New York – Stony Brook where she received a BS in Biology and then later obtained her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from The Ohio State University. In 1985, she started a distinguished career at the Procter & Gamble Company working in the field of respiratory allergy.
Kathy contributed major insights and methods for assessing the respiratory sensitization potential of chemicals and proteins. She published a novel tiered approach for evaluating the respiratory allergenicity of low molecular weight chemicals that was widely cited and adopted. The approach allowed one to rank order chemicals based on their respiratory allergy potency which was beneficial for risk assessment purposes. She was very proficient in the use of in vivo models for respiratory allergy assessments, specifically the guinea pig intratracheal model. She also contributed significantly to the development of the mouse intranasal model and showed its utility in determining the allergenic potency of detergent enzymes and other proteins. Kathy made important contributions to the control of occupational asthma and allergy in the detergent industry. Specifically, she demonstrated that proteolytic detergent enzymes enhance the allergic antibody responses of guinea pigs to nonproteolytic enzymes in a mixture which was critical information for setting occupational guidelines. Kathy was very proud of her work that contributed to the development of guidelines for the handling of enzymes to assure their safe use both occupationally and in consumer products. One of Kathy’s more significant pieces of work was designing a robust testing strategy that in the end showed an enzyme-containing personal cleansing product was not safe to proceed to market. One of Kathy’s many virtues was her outstanding ability to collaborate with scientists from around the world. I know many of the scientists she collaborated with, whether colleagues from P&G or scientists from academia, government, or industry, loved working with her because she was an expert in her field, never afraid to speak up for what she thought was right in terms of either science or relationships and so much fun to be around.
In addition to Kathy’s scientific side, she was a creative and talented artist. After her retirement from P&G she continued to develop her love for painting and photography. On more than a few occasions her creative work was shown in galleries around the Cincinnati area. She also loved to travel and spend time with her beloved husband, Christopher G. Schleifer. I would say that what defined Kathy best was her love for family and friends and boy did her family and friends love her. Kathy will be missed by so many but not forgotten. For me her legacy will be less about her scientific achievements and more about remembering her amazing personality and friendship.