Portrait of Women Scientists

WISeR is partnering with Women&Science on a Portrait Initiative featuring these incredible scientists from Rockefeller’s history. This will mark the first portrait of women scientists on campus. We are excited to recognize these groundbreaking scientists and their long overlooked contributions to Rockefeller’s illustrious history.

Keep an eye out for info about the portrait’s unveiling on April 14, 2022!

Louise Pearce

Louise Pearce joined the Rockefeller Institute in 1913 as an assistant to Simon Flexner and the Institute’s first woman researcher. During this time, Dr. Pearce studied trypanosomiasis, a fatal disease also known as African sleeping sickness. In 1920, she traveled to the Belgian Congo to field test a new drug called Tryparsamide against the disease. The drug cured about 80 percent of patients and remained the standard treatment for trypanosomiasis for decades. Shortly after her return, Dr. Pearce was promoted to Associate Professor. She continued in this position for 30 years, during which time she devoted her research to developing animal models for the study of human cancers.

Marie Daly

Marie Daly joined the Rockefeller Institute in 1948 after receiving her doctorate from Columbia University, becoming the first Black woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry. Funded by a grant from the American Cancer Society, Dr. Daly worked with Rockefeller scientist A.E. Mirsky to study the nuclei of tissues and ribonucleoproteins until 1955. She later returned to Columbia, where she helped discover the relationship between high cholesterol and clogged arteries. Dr. Daly continued research on arteries and the effects of cigarette smoke on the lungs as an assistant professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She was promoted to associate professor in 1971.

Rebecca Lancefield

Rebecca Lancefield began her research on hemolytic streptococci with Rockefeller scientist Oswald T. Avery in 1918, when no one recognized that these microbes caused common and dangerous human diseases like “strep throat,” scarlet fever, and acute kidney disease. Over the course of her research, Dr. Lancefield devised a system for classifying the dozen types of streptococcal bacteria. This system, still in use today, laid the groundwork for understanding the clinical course of such diseases and how they are transmitted.

Gertrude Perlmann

Gertrude Perlmann was recruited to the Rockefeller Institute in 1945 as a visiting investigator after her discovery of a new research technique to investigate proteins in bodily fluids. Previously a research fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Perlmann spent the remainder of her career at Rockefeller, rising to the ranks of full professor in 1973, a year before her death. She is highly regarded for her work in protein chemistry, particularly her discoveries on the structure of pepsin and pepsinogen. In 1965, Dr. Perlmann was awarded The American Chemical Society’s Garvan Medal for her outstanding scientific accomplishments and service to the field of chemistry.

Florence Sabin

Florence Sabin came to the Rockefeller Institute in 1925 as one of the leading women scientists in the United States. After serving as a medical intern at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Sabin joined the faculty at the Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1917. She was soon promoted to full professor, becoming the first woman at the school to do so. In 1924, she became the first female president of the American Association of Anatomists and, a year later, became the first woman to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Soon after, Dr. Sabin was named Rockefeller’s first woman full professor.