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Gertrude B. Elion Autobiography
I was born in New York City on a cold January night when the water pipes
in our apartment froze and burst. Fortunately, my mother was in the hospital
rather than at home at the time. My father emigrated from Lithuania to the
United States at the age of 12. He received his higher education in New
York City and graduated in 1914 from the New York University School of Dentistry.
My mother came at the age of 14 from a part of Russia which, after the war,
became Poland; she was only 19 when she was married to my father. My first
seven years were spent in a large apartment in Manhattan where my father
had his dental office, with our living quarters adjoining it.
My brother was born about six years after I was, and shortly thereafter
we moved to the Bronx, which was then considered a suburb of New York City.
There were still many open lots where children could play and large parks,
including the Bronx Zoo, to which I was very much devoted. My brother and
I had a happy childhood. We went to a public school within walking distance
of our house. Our classrooms were generally quite crowded, but we received
a good basic education.
I was a child with an insatiable thirst for knowledge and remember enjoying
all of my courses almost equally. When it came time at the end of my high
school career to choose a major in which to specialize I was in a quandary.
One of the deciding factors may have been that my grandfather, whom I loved
dearly, died of cancer when I was 15. I was highly motivated to do something
that might eventually lead to a cure for this terrible disease. When I entered
Hunter College in 1933, I decided to major in science and, in particular,
chemistry.
By this time my father was not financially well-off since he, like
many others, had invested heavily in the stock market, and in the
crash of 1929 had gone into bankruptcy. Fortunately, he still had
his profession and his loyal patients. Had it not been that
Hunter
College
was a free college, and that my grades were good enough
for me to enter it, I suspect I might never have received a higher
education. My brother also was able to take advantage of a free higher
education, going to the College of the City of New York where he studied
physics and engineering.
I remember my school days as being very challenging and full of good comradery
among the students. It was an all-girls school and I think many of our teachers
were uncertain whether most of us would really go on with our careers. As
a matter of fact, many of the girls went on to become teachers and some
went into scientific research. Because of the depression, it was not possible
for me to go on to graduate school, although I did apply to a number of
universities with the hope of getting an assistantship or fellowship.
Jobs were scarce and the few positions that existed in laboratories
were not available to women. I did get a three-month job teaching
biochemistry to nurses in the New York Hospital School of Nursing.
Unfortunately, because of the trimester system, the same job would
not have been available again for nine months. By chance, I met a
chemist who was looking for a laboratory assistant. Although he was
unable to pay me any salary at that time, I decided that the experience
would be worthwhile. I stayed there for a year and a half and was
finally making the magnificient sum of $20 a week. By then I had saved
some money and, with help from my parents, entered graduate school
at
New York University
in the fall of 1939. I was the only female in my graduate chemistry
class but no one seemed to mind, and I did not consider it at all
strange.
After a year of graduate studies I had finished all the required courses
but now needed to do the research work for my Master's degree. During this
period, I took a job as a teacher-in-training and then as a substitute teacher
in the New York City secondary schools, teaching chemistry, physics and
general science for two years. In the meantime, I did my research work at
night and on week-ends at New York University, and obtained my Master of
Science degree in chemistry in 1941.
By this time, World War II had begun and there was a shortage of chemists
in industrial laboratories. Although I was finally able to get a job in
a laboratory, it was not in research. I did analytical quality control work
for a major food company. After a year and a half, during which I learned
a good deal about instrumentation, I became restless because the work was
so repetitive and I was no longer learning anything. I applied to employment
agencies for a research job, and was chosen to go to a laboratory at Johnson
and Johnson in New Jersey. Unfortunately, that laboratory was disbanded
after about six months. At that time I was offered a number of positions
in research laboratories but the one which intrigued me most was a position
as assistant to
George Hitchings
. My thirst
for knowledge stood me in good stead in that laboratory, because Dr. Hitchings
permitted me to learn as rapidly as I could and to take on more and more
responsibility when I was ready for it. From being solely an organic chemist,
I soon became very much involved in microbiology and in the biological activities
of the compounds I was synthesizing. I never felt constrained to remain
strictly in chemistry, but was able to broaden my horizons into biochemistry,
pharmacology, immunology, and eventually virology.
At the same time, I was eager to get my doctorate degree and began to go
to school at night at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. After several years
of long range commuting, I was informed that I would no longer be able to
continue my doctorate on a part-time basis, but would need to give up my
job and go to school full-time. I made what was then a critical decision
in my life, to stay with my job and give up the pursuit of a doctorate.
Years later, when I received three honorary doctorate degrees from George
Washington University, Brown University and the University of Michigan,
I decided that perhaps that decision had been the right one after all. Unfortunately,
neither of my parents lived to see this recognition.
The work became fascinating almost from the very beginning. We were exploring
new frontiers, since very little was known about nucleic acid biosynthesis
or the enzymes involved with it. I had been assigned quite early to work
on the purines and, with the exception of a few deviations into the pteridines
and into some other condensed pyrimidine systems, the remainder of my work
concentrated almost completely on the purines. Each series of studies was
like a mystery story in that we were constantly trying to deduce what the
microbiological results meant, with little biochemical information to help
us. Then, in the mid-1950's came the work of Greenberg, Buchanan,
Kornberg
and others which elucidated the pathways for the biosynthesis and utilization
of purines, and many of our findings began to fall into place. 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.
Over the years, my work became both my vocation and avocation. Since I enjoyed
it so much, I never felt a great need to go outside for relaxation. Nevertheless,
I became an avid photographer and traveler. Possibly my love for travel
stems from the early years when my family seldom went away on vacation.
Thus, my curiosity about the rest of the world did not begin to be satisfied
until I began to travel. I have traveled fairly widely over the world, but
there still remain many places for me to explore. Another major interest
is music, not because I am musically talented, but because I love to listen
to it. I am an opera lover and have been a subscriber to the Metropolitan
Opera for over 40 years. I also enjoy concerts, ballet and theater.
Although I never married, my brother fortunately did, and I have had the
pleasure of watching his three sons and daughter grow up. Several of them
now have children of their own. We have been a close-knit family, although
often separated by distance, and have shared each other's happiness, sorrows,
and aspirations.
In my professional career I was promoted frequently, and in 1967 I was appointed
Head of the Department of Experimental Therapy, a position which I held
until I retired in 1983. This department was sometimes termed by some of
my colleagues a "mini-institute" since it contained sections of
chemistry, enzymology, pharmacology, immunology and virology, as well as
a tissue culture laboratory. This made it possible to coordinate our work
and cooperate in a manner that was extremely useful for development of new
drugs.
I have been associated with the
National
Cancer Institute
in many capacities, from 1960 when I served on
one of its study sections, to serving later on a number of its advisory
committees and the Board of Scientific Counselors for the Division
of Cancer Treatment, and most recently as a member of the National
Cancer Advisory Board. I have taken an active part in the American
Association for Cancer Research, serving on its Board of Directors,
its program committees, and in 1983 - 84 as its President. In addition,
I have served on Advisory Committees for the American Cancer Society,
the Leukemia Society of America, and a number of committees for the
Tropical Disease Research division of the World Health Organization,
currently serving as Chairman of the Steering Committee on the Chemotherapy
of Malaria. I am a member of the American Chemical Society, the Royal
Society of Chemistry, the Transplantation Society, the American Society
of Biological Chemists, the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental
Therapeutics, the American Association for Cancer Research, the American
Society of Hematology, the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists,
and am a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences.
After my official retirement as Department Head from Burroughs Wellcome,
I have remained there as a Scientist Emeritus and Consultant, and have tried
to take an active part in the discussions, seminars and staff meetings relating
to research. In addition, I have become a Research Professor of Medicine
and Pharmacology at Duke University and each year work with one third-year
medical student who wishes to do research in the areas of tumor biochemistry
and pharmacology. This has been a very stimulating experience and one that
I hope to continue for some time to come. I serve on a number of editorial
boards and continue to lecture and write. In a sense, my career appears
to have come full circle from my early days of being a teacher to now sharing
my experience in research with the new generations of scientists.
From
Les Prix Nobel
1988.
Dr Elion died in 1999.
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