Gertrude B. Elion, or “Trudy” as she liked to be called, was a woman of incredible innovation in the field of science, specifically when it came to the transformative development of medicine. Born in 1918 in New York City, Gertrude was the daughter or Lithuanian immigrants who established a life for themselves and their daughter in the United States.
As a young girl, Gertrude was fascinated by education, knowledge, and learning. She ended up graduating from her high school at fifteen, and she entered Hunter College tuition-free, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Chemistry at the age of 19. As great as her accomplishments were at such a young age, though, Gertrude had a hard time finding work because laboratories at the time refused to hire women chemists. Subsequently, Gertrude worked several odd jobs but was not satisfied with her employment. After all the rejection and unsatisfactory employment, Trudy went back to school and earned her M.S. in 1941.
It wasn’t until the onslaught of World War II, when women were taking on the work of men who were fighting overseas, that Gertrude was finally able to show her incredible talents as a chemist and pharmacologist. Hired in 1944 at the pharmaceutical company Burroghs-Wellcome, Trudy became the assistant of George H. Hitchings, who would soon become her life-long partner in the lab.
Together, Elion, Hitchings, and their associates were able to create chemotherapy for leukemia, immunosuppressive drugs for kidney transplants, and treatments for rheumatoid arthritis. But Trudy’s legacy can be seen mostly in the innovative research and experimental methods that she brought to the lab, which would eventually be used in the development of AZT, the drug used in the treatment of HIV.
Trudy worked alongside her partner, Hitchings, until she finally retired from her coat and her work in the lab in 1983. She was still incredibly active in her community after her retirement, though, becoming the Scientist Emeritus and Consultant at Burroghs-Wellcome and the Research Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at Duke University. In 1988, Elion and Hitchings were recognized alongside British Chemist Sir James Black for their contribution to the world of science and medicine, receiving the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for “their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment.”
Gertrude B. Elion is truly a woman to be celebrated for her thirst for knowledge and for her collaboration and compromise in order to advance work that would bring relief and health to others. She also had to practice immense perseverance and determination in order to succeed in a world dominated by men who believed she was not adequate enough for simply being a woman.
So, three cheers to Trudy B. Elion! May your badassery inspire and ignite the fire in women of all ages who have been discouraged in their journeys, and may they fight just as hard as you did to persevere.