Elion, Gertrude

Elion, Gertrude (Belle)

(born Jan. 23, 1918, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Feb. 21, 1999, Chapel Hill, N.C.) U.S. pharmacologist. She graduated from Hunter College. Unable to find a research position because of her sex, she initially taught high school chemistry. In 1944 she became George Herbert Hitchings's assistant at Burroughs Wellcome. They developed drugs for leukemia, autoimmune disorders, urinary-tract infections, gout, malaria, and viral herpes using innovative research methods. They examined the biochemistry of normal human cells and of disease-causing agents and used the results to formulate drugs that could kill or inhibit reproduction of a particular pathogen but leave normal host cells unharmed. In 1988 they shared a Nobel Prize with James Black.