Elion, Gertrude Belle

Elion, Gertrude Belle (el'ēun) [key], 1918–99, American pharmacologist, b. New York City, B.S. Hunter College, 1937. Unable to find research work (largely because she was a woman), she taught high school chemistry before joining Burroughs Wellcome Laboratories in 1944. She and colleague George Hitchings developed drug treatments for leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, viral herpes, urinary and respiratory tract infections, and AIDS. In 1988 the pair shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with British pharmacologist Sir James Black.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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