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Gertrude Belle Elion

Drugs for the treatment of cancer and leukemia

Soon after Gertrude Elion entered Hunter College in 1933 (at the age of 15), her grandfather's death from cancer inspired her to declare a major in Chemistry. She graduated summa cum laude in 1937, but since the Depression was at its worst, and she was a woman, Elion could not find laboratory work. But later, as Elion puts it, World War II "changed everything. Whatever reservations there were about employing women in laboratories simply evaporated." In 1944 Elion began a 40-year career with Burroughs-Wellcome pharmaceutical company. Here Elion, working alone and with her colleague George Hitchings, invented dozens of drugs for the treatment of cancer and viruses.

For example, Elion was awarded patent #2,884,667 (May 5, 1959) for 2-Amino-6-Mercaptopurine ("Purinethol"), a major medicine in fighting leukemia. She also invented "Imuran" (patent #3,056,785, October 2, 1962), a drug which helps the body suppress its immune reactions to foreign tissue---most importantly, that of transplanted organs. Imuran has thus made kidney transplants between non-related donors and patients common. Elion's other contributions include "Zyloprim," which fights gout, and "Zovirax," which battles herpes virus infections. All told, she is named on 45 patents.

In her years at Burroughs-Wellcome, Elion was also admired as an administrator and promoter of young scientists. Since officially retiring in 1983, she has continued to work for the advancement of medical science through the World Health Organization and various university lectureships. In 1988, in recognition of her work, Elion received a Nobel Prize for Medicine.