Health + Wellness: Gertrude B. Elion

Episode Summary

Gertrude B. Elion was a pioneering chemist and Nobel Prize winner who made major contributions to the development of drugs to treat leukemia, herpes, AIDS, and help prevent organ transplant rejection. Born in 1918 in New York City to immigrant parents, Elion was inspired to study chemistry after her grandfather died of cancer. She graduated college at 15 but struggled to find work as a woman in science. After earning her master's degree, she began working with Dr. George H. Hitchings. Together they took an innovative approach to drug development by comparing diseased and healthy cells to design targeted treatments. Elion and Hitchings developed numerous groundbreaking medications over their 40-year partnership. In 1967, Elion became head of the experimental therapy department at Burroughs-Welcome. She held 45 patents and received numerous honors including the National Medal of Science. In 1988, she made history as the first woman inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. That same year, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine alongside Hitchings and James Black for her life-saving contributions to pharmacology. Outside of science, Elion had wide-ranging passions from photography to opera. She served as an advisor on global health issues and continued teaching into her 80s. Gertrude B. Elion’s insatiable curiosity and relentless pursuit of knowledge despite gender barriers paved the way for countless women in science. Her work revolutionized modern medicine and saved countless lives.

Episode Show Notes

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.

Episode Transcript

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I'm Jay Shetty and on my podcast, On Purpose, I've had the honor to sit down with some of the most incredible hearts and minds on the planet. On this podcast, you get to hear the real life stories behind their journeys and the tools they used, the books they read, and the people that made a difference in their lives so that they can make a difference in ours. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Join the journey soon. SPEAKER_06: WonderMediaNetwork.com slash survey. It's quick, I promise. You can also find the link in the episode notes. Thank you so much for taking the time. 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 23rd, 1918 in New York City. Both of Gertrude's parents were recent immigrants to the United States. Her mother from what's 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 Welcome, studying under Dr. George H. Hitchens. Dr. Hitchens was impressed by Gertrude's intellect and passion for her work. He soon began giving her greater responsibility and the two formed a collaborative partnership that would last for nearly 40 years. Together, Dr. Hitchens 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. Hitchens 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-Welcome. She held the position for 16 years until she retired in 1983. Her department was often referred to as a mini institute by colleagues because it encompassed chemistry, enzymology, pharmacology, immunology, and virology. SPEAKER_03: I've always compared it in a way to an orchestra that everybody plays his own instrument very well, but it isn't until you put them all together that you have anything that sounds like music. SPEAKER_06: 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 21st, 1999. She was 81 years old. SPEAKER_06: All month, we're highlighting women in health and wellness. For more information, check out our Facebook and Instagram, at Womanica Podcast. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. Talk to you tomorrow. SPEAKER_04: Bye. SPEAKER_06: Time's bestselling author, Diana Kander, gives listeners a behind the scenes look into the lives of remarkable corporate executives. She sits down with them to uncover their habits, tactics and rules for growth. We learned that doing it all doesn't mean doing it alone and unpack how we can apply these practices to our own lives. Check out The Growth League, wherever you get your podcasts. 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