Sophie Marie Worobec, BS 1970, MD 1973, died July 12, 2018 at age 69.
She and a twin brother, Thomas George, were born in Manhattan, NY to a refugee Ukrainian family on Oct. 19, 1948. As infants they lived with their parents on the Lower East Side with a 10 year older brother, Roman. Their family had arrived as Displaced Persons post World War II just months earlier, having been being sponsored by their father's brother, Jack (Jakiv) Worobec . The family was also, after Jack's death, taken in by Jack's widow Mary (Marina). They lived in a tiny 3rd floor tenement apartment in the East Village. One luxury their mother allowed herself was a diaper service. During this time, their father, who had been a TB specialist in Europe, studied to learn English, get his NY State medical license and complete his American training in pulmonary medicine. After two years the family moved to an area outside of Shawnee, Oklahoma and lived in government housing on an Indian Reservation right next to a TB Sanatorium. Sophie loved that during her early years in Oklahoma, she was able to run freely from morning until early evening with her twin brother, Thomas, and a collie named Daisy throughout grassy fields, coming home mainly for meals. At age five, the family moved to Chicago. It was a shock that now, living in a rental apartment, it was only on special trips to public parks, that she was free to run on the grass. Walking on privately owned lawns was forbidden. But walking in back alleys and sidewalks was allowed. Unless, of course, it was a "dangerous area." But the city's shoreline, central public library, museums and Art Institute held a world of fascinating finds. Sophie did all her schooling in Chicago, first at Catholic schools, then at the University of Illinois, receiving her BS at age 21 and MD at age 24, and becoming a dermatologist at age 28.
Sophie was board certified in dermatology and dermatopathology. She worked in private practice for 5 years from 1977 to 1982, both in Bolingbrook IL and Downers Grove, IL. She also taught at Cook County Hospital in the occupational medicine department after finishing her dermatology residency in 1977. She became an Associate Professor of Clinical Dermatology in the College of Medicine at Chicago in 1988, and then again from 1999 to the present. She was instrumental in first obtaining federal funding for the Regional Hansen's Disease Clinic at the COM at Chicago in 1982 and served as its Director for six years. She also worked at Johnson and Johnson in Raritan, NJ from 1988 to 1992 in Clinical research and medical affairs, Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles Sunset Medical Center 1992-1993, and the University of Rochester from July 1993 to c. August 1999. She worked in the field of contact dermatitis from 1973 until 2013, and she directed the Cutaneous Lymphomas and Related Diseases Clinic at UIC COM 1999 to the present.
She received Discovery Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute in Raritan, NJ in 1991; the Chicago Dermatological Society's Founder's Award in 2005, and was named to Best Doctors in America from 2009 through 2016. She served as President of the Buffalo-Rochester Dermatological Society from 1997-1998.

Despite having a benign spinal cord tumor diagnosed and decompressed at age 29, Sophie worked a hectic life as a full time doctor for 43 years, until age 67. In the midst of this, at age 34, she had a daughter. Dr. Sophie was very proud that her daughter Adrienne also became a medical doctor and chose hematology and oncology as her specialty.
Upon her semi-retirement in Jan 1, 2016, Sophie had a chance to more leisurely enjoy her family, friends, good food, music, movies, television, a little travel, language lessons, a little homemaking and books.
Survivors include husband John Gregory Victor, two brothers, Thomas and Roman (Trina); daughter Adrienne Irene Victor (Derrick Taylor), granddaughter Cassandra Lynn Taylor, grandson Aiden Grant Taylor, nieces Sophia Catherine Worobec, Sarah Kaiman, Danielle Victor Calloway, Kendall Rose Victor, and nephews Henry, Thomas and David Worobec , Jeffrey Kaiman, and Bobby, Collin, Quentin and Cameron Victor.

Memorial visitation Saturday (July 21st) 12-4 P.M. at Muzyka Funeral Home, 2157 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL
with a Panachyda (prayer service) 2:00 P.M. at Muzyka Chapel.
Interment Private.
Info: 773-278-7767.