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Gertrude Elion

Intro

Gertrude "Trudy" (1) Elion (1918-1999) was a American Biochemist and Pharmacologist well known for addition to modern medicine in cancer, organ transplants, and HIV and herpes treatments. Along side her colleagues George H. Hitchings and Sir James Black, they were able to revolutionize the development of medication. They did this by taking a different path than the traditional trial-and-error drug design, but instead created a "rational drug design" which focuses on the target of the drug by evaluating the differences in biochemistry. (2)

Though she dreamed of earning a Ph.D., Elion was faced with a lot of obstacle to achieve this dream. These obstacles primarily stemmed from the gender discrimination that she faced and her financial situation after her family lost their wealth in the 1929 Wall Street Crash. Even facing these adversities, she was able to work along side other researchers to

Early Life

She got 15 rejections for financial assistance to pay for graduate school due to her gender. (3) Hunter College was a free college, that her grades were good enough to attend, that allowed her to have a furthered education. (4)   Personal Life Education

Elion was an excellent student who graduated from Walton High School at the age of 15.[5] She graduated Phi Beta Kappa[9] from Hunter College, that she was able to attend for free due to her grades, in 1937 with a degree in chemistry (summa cum laude[10] )[11] and New York University (M.Sc.) in 1941, while working as a high school teacher during day time. In an interview after receiving her Nobel Prize, she states that she believed the soul reason she able to further her education as a young female was because of the fact Hunter College was free. [12] Her fifteen financial aid applications for graduate school were turned down due to gender bias, so she enrolled in a secretarial school, which lasted six weeks before she found a job.[4] (p65)

Unable to obtain a graduate research position, Elion began working as a teacher during the day. She began to go to night school at New York University Tandon School of Engineering (then Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute), but after several years of long-range commuting, she was informed that she would no longer be able to continue her doctorate on a part-time basis, but would need to give up her job and go to school full-time. Elion made what was then a critical decision in her life, to stay with her job and give up the pursuit of a doctorate.[11] She never obtained a formal Ph.D.,[19] but was later awarded an honorary Ph.D from New York University Tandon School of Engineering (then Polytechnic University of New York) in 1989 and honorary SD degree from Harvard university in 1998.

Career and Research

She was promoted frequently and was associated with the National cancer institute and after retiring from her research she became a professor at Duke. (4)

Worked as a lab assistant, food analyst, and a high school teacher to put herself through her masters program (5)

 Awards and Honors: 

Selected Works

Websites:


 * 1) https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/elion-gertrude-belle

2. https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/opinion/comment/rational-drug-design-identifying-and-characterising-a-target/10969751.article?firstPass=false

3. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/women-scientists/gertrude-elion.html

4. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1988/elion/biographical/