Remembering … Annette Markin

Annette Markin, center, with her husband Rod Markin, M.D., Ph.D, associate vice chancellor for business development and chief technology officer, and son Nick Markin, M.D., an anesthesiology resident at UNMC, at the 2007 UNMC Match Day ceremony. Annette Markin died Friday at the age of 55.

Funeral services for Annette Markin — an ardent advocate for pulmonary hypertension (PH) awareness and wife of UNMC faculty member Rod Markin, M.D., Ph.D. — will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. at St. John’s Catholic Church — 2500 California Plaza.

Markin — who battled the ailment for several years — died Friday. She was 55.

A teacher in the Millard School District for 25 years — Markin was diagnosed with PH in 2005. PH is a complex health problem that causes continuous high blood pressure in the pulmonary artery in the lungs, which results in an enlarged heart that may lose its ability to pump.

After her diagnosis, Markin become active in local PH groups in an effort to raise awareness about the condition.

Memorials can be made to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association or Children’s Hospital.