Background

Gertrude B. Elion was born on January 23, 1918 in New York City, New York, United States; the daughter of Robert Elion and Bertha Cohen.

Education

Elion graduated from Hunter College with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1937. In the midst of the Great Depression it was difficult for a woman to find a job in science. She had decided while still in high school to become a cancer researcher but for several years worked as a lab assistant, food analyst and high school teacher, while completing her Masters degree at night. She obtained her Master of Science degree in chemistry from New York University in 1941.

Elion was later awarded honorary doctorate degrees from George Washington University and several other universities and colleges in recognition of her research.

Career

The World War II was going on when Elion graduated. She wanted to get into research but was not able to obtain the position she desired. Instead, she did analytical quality control work for a major food company. She did not find any satisfaction in this job and began searching for a new one.

She was appointed at the Burroughs Wellcome Laboratories as an assistant to George Hitchings. She enjoyed her time at the laboratory as Hitchings gave her considerable freedom in her research, allowing her to learn as rapidly as she wanted to.

Working with Hitchings, she moved from being solely an organic chemist to become involved in microbiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, and immunology. During this time, she also attended night school at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute with the intent of pursuing a doctorate. However, she dropped her Ph.D. plans due to increasing work pressure.

Her professional career proved to be a highly successful one. In collaboration with Hitchings, she developed various new drugs to treat diseases like leukemia, autoimmune disorders, urinary tract infections, gout, malaria, and viral herpes.

The duo adopted innovative research methods and focused on examining the difference between the biochemistry of normal human cells and those of cancer cells, bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens. Then they used this information to formulate effective drugs to treat the diseases caused by such pathogens.

In 1967, she was appointed Head of the Department of Experimental Therapy at Burroughs Wellcome, a position she held until she retired in 1983. She moved to the Research Triangle in 1970.

Throughout her career, she was associated with the National Cancer Institute in many capacities. She had also worked for the American Association for Cancer Research and the World Health Organization, among other organizations.

From 1971 to 1983, Elion served as Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology and of Experimental Medicine at Duke University. She was the Research Professor from 1983 to 1999. Gertrude Belle Elion died on February 21, 1999, at the age of 81.

Achievements

• The biochemist Gertrude B. Elion helped to develop drugs to treat leukemia and herpes and to prevent the rejection of kidney transplants.
  
  In 1991, Elion became the first woman to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 1992, she was elected to the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame.

Views

Quotations: "Don't be afraid of hard work. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don't let others discourage you or tell you that you can't do it. In my day I was told women didn't go into chemistry. I saw no reason why we couldn't."

"The Nobel Prize is fine, but the drugs I've developed are rewards in themselves."

"I had no specific bent toward science until my grandfather died of stomach cancer. I decided that nobody should suffer that much."

Membership

In addition, Gertrude B. Elion was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the National Cancer Institute and the New York Academy of Sciences.

• 

  National Academy of Sciences , Washington

  1990

• National Academy of Medicine , United States

  1991

• 

  American Academy of Arts and Sciences , Cambridge

  1991

• 

  Gertrude B. Elion was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1995.

  Royal Society , London

  1995

• American Association for Cancer Research , Philadelphia

  1983 - 1984

Interests

• Her hobbies include photography, travel and music.

Connections

Gertrude Belle Elion never married nor had children.

Father:

Robert Elion

Mother:

Bertha Elion (Cohen)

colleague:

George Herbert Hitchings

George Herbert Hitchings was an American doctor and biochemist.

colleague:

James Whyte Black

Sir James Whyte Black was a Scottish physician and pharmacologist.

References

• Gertrude Elion: Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology and Medicine (Women Hall of Famers in Mathematics and Science)
• Gertrude Elion: Master Chemist (Masters of Invention)
• Gertrude B. Elion and Pharmacology (21st Century Junior Library: Women Innovators)
• The Women of the Nobel eBook: Massimo di Terlizzi: Kindle Store