7. Medicine
“It was due to the camouflage intentionally placed over their presence in science” — Margaret Rossiter.
Join the Club
Join our email list and help us make herstory!
Elda Emma Anderson
Anderson was born in Wisconsin in 1899 and earned her Master's in Physics in 1924 and her PhD in 1941. After graduating, she taught physics, chemistry, and math at both the high school and college level, and eventually she joined the faculty at Milwaukee-Downer College. She joined the Manhattan Project in 1941 and moved to Los Alamos to study fission. There she produced the lab’s first sample of uranium-235, an isotope of uranium essential for nuclear power and weapons because it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction.
With the end of the war, Anderson became interested in a new field of “health physics." Committed to understanding the impacts of radiation on the human body, Anderson spoke out about the dangers of radiation and the threat posed by nuclear weapons. Traditionally, she died of breast cancer and leukemia in 1961, likely as a result of her work on the Manhattan Project.
Key Takeaways: As a member of the Manhattan Project, Anderson studied fission as well as the absorption and emission of neutrons. She was instrumental in the development of the first atomic bomb, preparing the first pure sample of uranium-235. After World War II, Anderson went on to help found the field of Health Physics to focus on and foster radiation safety.
Theodora “Theo” Colborn
Theodora Colborn, better known as Theo to her friends, was born in Plainfield, NY on March 28, 1927. From an early age she had a passion for nature and science. She earned her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Rutgers University in 1947. She married and had four children while working as a pharmacist for several years. She and her family moved to a sheep ranch in Hotchkiss, Colorado in 1964.
Once her children were grown up and her marriage dissolved, her interest in the natural world led her to pursue further studies. She earned a master’s degree in zoology from Western State College in 1981 and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985 at the age of 58. In 1987, Theo joined the Conservation Foundation of Washington, DC as a Senior Analyst. Her first project involved studying the impact of Great Lakes pollution on fish, aquatic birds, and wildlife. She discovered that many Great Lakes species were suffering from health effects that included reproductive and immune system problems and behavioral, hormonal, and metabolic changes. Though the term did not exist yet, Theo’s descriptions mirrored what we now recognize as characteristics of endocrine disruptor exposures.
From 1991 through the end of her career, she focused on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are substances that interfere with the hormonal systems of humans and wildlife. Theo helped us reach our current understanding of the associations between the environment and human health. It is now well understood that environmental exposures to chemical contaminants, even at very low levels, can play a large role in human health.
“Her love for science, passion for public health, and willingness to work with a wide diversity of 'experts, skeptics, and gurus' has left a permanent mark on those who knew her and shaped the future for generations of scientists who will never have that opportunity.” (Excerpt from the NIH Theodora (Theo) Colborn: 1927–2014)
Key Takeaways: While staunchly independent and path-breaking, Theo’s work was characterized by collaboration with scientists and researchers from a wide range of disciplines. At age 76, Theo founded The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX), a research organization devoted to understanding how environmental exposures to endocrine disruptors interfere with development and health.
Virginia Apgar
Virginia Apgar was born on June 7, 1909, in Westfield, New Jersey. She had many influences around her that led her to pursue medicine. Her oldest brother passed away from tuberculosis before the age of 5, and her younger brother suffered from chronic childhood illnesses. By the time she graduated high school, she knew she wanted to be a doctor. She was passionate about music, playing both the violin and cello. She attended Mount Holyoke College, where she graduated in 1929 with a bachelor's in zoology.
In 1929, Virginia was accepted to Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.
When she was accepted she was 1 of 9 women in her class. When she graduated in 1933, she was fourth in her class. She completed her surgical residency in 1937 and went on to train in anesthesia at the University of Wisconsin Madison, the first department of anesthesia in the United States. While there, she was the only female trainee. She also met her lifelong mentor Dr. Richard Waters. After completing all of her training she returned to Columbia to become the director of the new department of anesthesiology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. In 1949, she became the first professor of anesthesiology at the Columbia, and with this position she was the first female full-rank professor there.
Before the creation of the Apgar test, there was no systematic way to assess a newborn’s health right after birth. Apgar tested her scoring system for three years and in 1952 she published it under the title ‘A Proposal for a New Method in the Evaluation of the Newborn Infant.” After helping improve infant mortality through the APGAR test, she earned a degree in public health from John Hopkins and became the chief of the division of congenital malformations at the March of Dimes in 1959. Apgar’s final professional achievement was in her work to create the first Committee on Perinatal (period around birth) Health which would incorporate relevant organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the March of Dimes, to improve maternal health and further limit infant mortality. She passed away due to complications of liver failure at Columbia’s New York Presbyterian Hospital in 1974, before the she official report from this committee was published.
Key Takeaways: Dr. Virginia Apgar was the first woman at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons to be named a full professor. She also designed and introduced the Apgar Score, the first standardized method for evaluating a newborn's transition to life outside the womb.
“Every baby born in a modern hospital anywhere in the world is looked at first through the eyes of Virginia Apgar.”
