Anna Savelyeva Feoktistova

Born in Homel, Belarus, to Saveliy and Tatyana (nee Tsalkina) Volfson, Anna attended Tomsk University in Tomsk, Russia, where she received an M.D. and where she met her husband Igor Feoktistov, with whom she had two sons, Ilya and Sasha.

After moving to Nashville, TN with her family in 1992, Anna worked at Vanderbilt University, where she eventually became a Senior Research Specialist studying cell division in the lab of Kathleen L. Gould Ph.D. She was a well-loved and well-respected colleague and helped mentor several generations of graduate students and post-docs. She is listed as an author on more than 40 scientific papers; her work was cited by other researchers in over 1,000 papers.

She brought joy to the lives of all those lucky enough to know her. Friends, colleagues, and family loved her because her boundless sense of humor, generosity of spirit, and charm made it impossible not to love her. She is survived by her father, husband, sons, and sister, Lena Basova.

A graveside funeral service will be performed at the cemetery at Congregation Micah, 2001 Old Hickory Boulevard, Brentwood, TN, 37027 on Thursday, September 27 at 10 am.

Donations in Anna’s honor can be made to one of two foundations:

The VU Basic Sciences fund supporting scientific research at Vanderbilt University:

https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/basic-sciences/

Or the ASPIRE fund supporting graduate students and post-docs doing research at Vanderbilt University:

https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/aspire/giving-vanderbilt's-aspire-program