A scientist I chose was Gertrude B. Elion. Not only did Elion have a tremendous amount of individual discoveries (with 45 patents for life-saving drugs), but she received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1988 for revolutionizing the way in which drugs were developed. Her initial big discovery was a compound that hindered development of leukemia cells. Yet, it had only temporary effects, and Elion was determined to inhibit diseases in a more prolonged way. Soon after, she unearthed Imuran, which suppresses the immune response, to facilitate organ transplants (previously impossible). Then, she discovered allopurinol, which decreases uric acid production. High levels of uric acid can be fatal to cancer patients. Her pivotal discovery came in 1977 when the antiviral drug acyclovir was approved. At the time, scientists believed drugs that targeted viruses would be too powerful for the body to handle, but Elion did not allow this to undermine her driving purpose to alleviate suffering by disrupting the proliferation of bacteria. She and her team developed a drug against Herpes, Epstein-Barr, chickenpox and shingles and set the stage for further antiviral treatments, such as AZT to treat AIDS.
Likewise, Elion’s youth displayed an admirable pattern of perseverance and ambition. At 15, her grandfather died from stomach cancer, serving as motivation for her to cure the disease. Her family’s livelihood took a tremendous toll after the stock market crash of 1929. She was only able to attend Huntington college with her high grades for free, receiving a degree in chemistry and graduating at 19. After, she neither had the money to go to grad school nor pursue a fellowship due to her gender, both the traditional routes for a scientist. She took limited jobs she could find — a secretary, a chemistry teacher, and an unpaid worker in a lab — until World War II opened positions formerly restricted to men.
Though the Nobel Prize is a treasured award, Elion said what was worth more were letters from patients or relatives who had benefited from her work, whether a recipient of a transplant, the parents of a child treated for leukemia, or someone with shingles whose eyesight was preserved.
-Alexis
