Senior Program Officer at Hughes Medical Institute

Barbara Filner, 67, a senior program officer specializing in graduate fellowships, research resources and international research programs at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a Chevy Chase-based medical-research organization, died of lung cancer Feb. 24 at her home in Bethesda.

Dr. Filner retired in 2001 after 13 years at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a leading funder of biomedical research that was founded by the renowned aviator, engineer and film producer.

Dr. Filner, who began her career as a research biologist, settled in the Washington area in 1977 and became director of health sciences policy at the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. There, she directed studies on a range of topics, including mandatory retirement for airline pilots, alcoholism and medical education.

She was a former national president of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) and head of its educational foundation, which provided hundreds of scholarships to female high school students and graduate students aspiring to careers in science.

She contributed essays to the AWIS publication "A Hand Up: Women Mentoring Women in Science."

Barbara Filner was a Philadelphia native and a 1962 biology graduate of Queens College in New York. She received a doctorate in biology at Brandeis University in Massachusetts in 1967, then taught biology at Columbia University and Kalamazoo College in Michigan.

She was a board member of Burning Tree Village, a project that depends on neighborhood volunteers to help seniors and the disabled remain in their homes as they age. She helped incorporate Burning Tree Village as a nonprofit organization in February.

As a volunteer, she worked on a joint League of Women Voters and Montgomery County Board of Elections effort to ensure quality control during election time.

Her avocations included cross-stitching, bird watching, reading mysteries, playing Scrabble and gardening.

Survivors include her husband of 24 years, Harry Rosenberg of Bethesda; two stepsons, Daniel Rosenberg of Eugene, Ore., and Joshua Rosenberg of Ridgewood, N.J.; a brother, Philip Filner of Lutherville, Md.; and two grandchildren.

-- Adam Bernstein