Fann Harding, a native of Kentucky, received her A.B. (1951) from Coker College in South Carolina and her M.S. (1954) and Ph.D (1958) in Anatomy from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She was employed as a Research and Teaching Assistant (1951-1953), Teaching Fellow (1953-1955), and Research Fellow (1955-1958) at the same university.

In 1958 Harding began working at the National Institutes of Health in the National Heart Institute (changed in 1976 to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) and held the following positions in the Research and Training Grants Branch: Analyst, Public Health Research Program (1958-1961); Scientist Administrator (1961-1964); Senior Health Scientist Administrator (1964-1969); Senior Health Scientist Administrator in the Thrombosis and Hemorrhagic Diseases Branch (1969-1972); Senior Health Scientist Administrator in the Division of Blood Diseases and Resources (1972-1974); and was Assistant to the Director of the Division of Blood Diseases and Resources (1974-1996). In addition, she was also Program Director for Extramural Research Training and Career Development in Blood Diseases and Transfusion Medicine (1974-1996); Executive Secretary to the Blood Diseases and Resources Advisory Committee (1974-1996); and Assistant Coordinator of the US-USSR Health Exchange Program (1974-1996). Harding was responsible for the development of a new area of medicine (transfusion medicine) through an NIH-funded program she created and headed from 1982-1996 when she retired to pursue sculpturing.

Harding was the founding President (1970) of the NIH Organization for Women (later known as SHER, Self Help for Equal Rights), and a founding member of both the Association for Women in Science (1971) and the Federation of Organizations for Professional Women (1972). In the early 1970s she filed the first sex discrimination complaint against the National Institutes of Health, and won her case in 1974.

She received numerous awards, including the Ruth Patrick Award (1951); the NIH Sustained Performance Award (1973); and a Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of Blood Banks (1990). She also was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was a member of Sigma Delta Epsilon, the National Woman’s Party, the Microcirculatory Society, the International Society of Blood Transfusion, and the International Society of Lymphology.

Dr. Harding had one daughter. She died April 4, 2019.