BALTIMORE, Md. — More than 100 colleagues, friends and family celebrated the life of Johns Hopkins doctor Nadia Morgan tonight. She was killed in a fiery hit and run crash in December.
"I am going to miss her dearly, just terribly. But I am a better person because she loved me and she loved the work she did here," Morgan's friend since high school, Nashay Clemetson, said.
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Many shared tributes and memories and the Division of Rheumatology choir, which Morgan used to belong to, performed a beautiful song.
"Dr. Nadia Morgan, as you have heard, took Johns Hopkins by storm, quickly becoming a promising investigator, a highly respected teacher and a beloved and admired colleague," Vice Dean of Johns Hopkins Bayview, David Hellmann, said.
"Having had the opportunity to speak to some of her patients in the past few weeks, what I heard uniformly was how impactful Nadia's care had been to them. One commented that she was the only physician I have met who I believed would help me," Morgan's mentor at Johns Hopkins, Laura Hummers, said.
Morgan was a researcher and instructor with the Division of Rheumatology at Johns Hopkins Bayview. She was set to be promoted but died just days before she was to be told the good news.
"She had an unusual ability to light up a room," Hellmann said. "No wonder then that our world suddenly felt colder and looked darker on December 15th, the night the sun of her bright life was completely eclipsed by a horrific accident."
"I'm going to embrace her spirit. I'm gonna take her spirit with me. I'm gonna celebrate her life. I will not let her life be in vain," Reverend Christopher Brown said.
"There have been many who have described Nadia as a shining light, but I think there are some people whose lights shine so brightly that they have light to spare and they share that light with those around them. I hope we all carry this brightness with us in all that we do in medicine and in life," Hummers said.
As a way to honor her life and her influence to the hospital's Division of Rheumatology, officials are announcing the establishment of the Dr. Nadia D. Morgan Memorial Fund. The endowment will provide a lectureship that will focus on the impact of African ancestry on the manifestations and course of the rheumatic diseases.
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The fund will also support fellows who plan to attend national meetings in their areas of interest.
To contribute to the Dr. Nadia D. Morgan Memorial Fund, click here.
