Gertrude B. Elion (1918-1999) was a Nobel Prize-winning chemist. With an insatiable thirst for knowledge, she relentlessly pursued a career in the sciences when few laboratories took female candidates seriously.
Gertrude B. Elion (1918-1999) was a Nobel Prize-winning chemist. With an insatiable thirst for knowledge, she relentlessly pursued a career in the sciences when few laboratories took female candidates seriously.
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Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about women who’ve made important contributions to the world of health and wellness.
Today, we’re talking about a Nobel Prize-winning chemist. With an insatiable thirst for knowledge, she relentlessly pursued a career in the sciences when few laboratories took female candidates seriously.
Let’s talk about Gertrude B. Elion.
Gertrude was born on January 23, 1918 in New York City. Both of Gertrude’s parents were recent immigrants to the United States. Her mother, from what is now Poland, and her father from Lithuania. When Gertrude’s younger brother was born, the family moved to the Bronx.
There, Gertrude enrolled in public school. She immediately excelled and was recommended to skip several grades. As a result, Gertrude graduated and started attending Hunter College at the age of 15.
That same year, Gertrude’s grandfather passed away from cancer. Gertrude credits his passing with what drove her to study chemistry. She wanted to one day help cure the disease that had taken her grandfather.
Following graduation, Gertrude struggled to find work. There were few laboratory positions available to women. Instead, she took a variety of teaching jobs to make ends meet. After a few years of saving, Gertrude was able to enroll in graduate school at New York University in the fall of 1939. Two years later, in 1941, Gertrude received her master’s degree and was the only female member of her graduating class.
Gertrude’s graduation coincided with the start of World War II, and with it, more opportunities for women in the sciences. She found a position at the research laboratory Burroughs-Wellcome studying under Dr. George H. Hitchings. Dr. Hitchings was impressed by Gertrude’s intellect and passion for her work. He quickly began giving her greater responsibilities, and the two formed a collaborative partnership that would last for nearly 40 years.
Together, Dr. Hitchings and Gertrude took a fresh approach to creating medicines. Instead of the trial-and-error method of trying to find a drug to treat a specific disease, they took a broader look at how the body’s cells and different substances interacted. They studied the chemical composition of diseased cells, and then looked at the differences between normal human cells and disease-causing pathogens to design medications to block viral infections.
Their work proved immensely consequential. Together, Gertrude and Dr. Hitchings developed drugs to combat leukemia, herpes and AIDS. They also developed treatments to reduce the risk of a body rejecting a kidney transplant.
Reflecting on these medical breakthroughs, Gertrude said, “When we began to see the results of our efforts in the form of new drugs which filled real medical needs and benefited patients in very visible ways, our feeling of reward was immeasurable.”
In 1967, Gertrude was appointed Head of the Department of Experimental Therapy at Burroughs-Wellcome. She held the position for sixteen years until she retired in 1983. Her department was often referred to as a “mini-institute” by colleagues since it encompassed chemistry, enzymology, pharmacology, immunology and virology.
Gertrude often claimed that she loved her work so much that it never felt much like work at all. But, she also had a myriad of passions outside the lab. She was an avid traveler and photographer. She was an enthusiastic patron of the Metropolitan Opera and although she never married or had children herself, she was incredibly involved in the lives of her nieces and nephews.
Over the course of her career, Gertrude developed 45 patents and was awarded 23 honorary degrees. She served as an advisor for the World Health Organization and the American Association for Cancer Research. She was a recipient of the National Medal of Science in 1991 and that same year, became the first woman inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Just a few years prior, in 1988, Gertrude received the greatest honor of all. Alongside Dr. George Hitchings and an English scientist named James Black, Gertrude was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Gertrude continued teaching and sharing her love for the sciences until she passed, on February 21, 1999. She was 81 years old.
All month, we’re highlighting women in health and wellness.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!