Evelyn B. Wiener, 62, internist

Evelyn B. Wiener, 62, an internist and director of the University of Pennsylvania's Student Health Service, died Thursday, May 8, of ovarian cancer at Abington Memorial Hospital.

A Northeast Philadelphia native, Dr. Wiener lived in Elkins Park for 25 years.

The child of teachers who traveled on a shoestring, Dr. Wiener grew up spending summers camping in the national parks.

As an adult, she wrote and spoke about developments in travel medicine, and about data collection in college health centers that get patients from around the world.

"No words can express how much Evelyn's expertise, care, compassion, and strength imbued our world-class Student Health Service with its resonance and responsiveness to our students," said Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum, Penn's vice provost for University Life. "She set the bar high, and she made sure we crossed it."

In 2012, Dr. Wiener won a lifetime achievement award from the American College Health Association.

A 1969 graduate of Philadelphia High School for Girls, she picked medicine as a career during her undergraduate years at Brandeis University.

After graduating from Temple University Medical School, Dr. Wiener worked as an instructor and attending physician at Temple Hospital and as a staff physician in federally funded community health centers.

But when she learned of an opening at the university's Student Health Service, she pursued it. She rose through the ranks to become center director in 2000.

"I think it was a perfect marriage of her clinical skills and administrative abilities," said her sister Marcia Pelberg. "The challenges were phenomenal. She was very much a critical thinker, someone who looked at things in their totality."

Dr. Wiener was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in late 2010 but refused to let the disease sideline her. She worked tirelessly despite receiving chemotherapy.

"The job was in many ways her therapy," Pelberg said. "Work kept her going."

Dr. Wiener also was a talented artist who studied at the Pennsylvanian Academy of the Fine Arts. Her pencil and charcoal drawings were featured in art shows. She also enjoyed gardening and cooking.

In addition to her sister, Dr. Wiener is survived by her husband, Ken Jacobs; a son, Alex; and a daughter, Molly Raimonte.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday, May 12, at Goldsteins' Rosenberg's Raphael-Sacks, 6410 N. Broad St., Philadelphia. A visitation will precede the service. Interment will be in Montefiore Cemetery.