Physiologist Edith Bülbring was so frustrated by the unpredictable responses of smooth muscle tissue in the lab that she made them her life’s work, becoming one of the most respected experts in her field.
Yehudith Birk’s investigations into the protein structures of legumes like soy and chickpeas led to vital discoveries about both the nutritional value of legumes and their potential for combatting certain cancers.
Immunologist Ruth Arnon and her long-time collaborator Michael Sela made unprecedented breakthroughs when they developed the first synthetic antigen and the first drug approved for treating multiple sclerosis, Copaxone.
Radiobiologist Tikvah Alper, who spent a lifetime questioning accepted theories and the established order, discovered that diseases like scrapie and mad cow replicated without DNA.
Despite her tragically short career, Ora Mendelsohn Rosen’s biochemical research helped explain how hormones dictate cell growth, shaping our understanding of diabetes and cancer.
Physiologist Judith Graham Pool revolutionized the treatment of hemophilia by isolating factor VIII and creating a concentrate made from blood plasma that could be frozen, stored, and used by hemophiliacs in their own homes.
Despite repeatedly needing to restart her career when she fled from Nazi-held territories, Berta Ottenstein earned great respect for her pioneering research in the field of dermatology.
Jessie Marmorston’s research into hormone secretion led to breakthroughs in our understanding of the ways stress can contribute to heart attacks and certain cancers.
Evolutionary biologist and epidemiologist Nina Fefferman uses mathematical models to chart how individual choices ripple outward to affect whole groups, helping create strategies to save populations from endangered tortoises to human communities stricken by disease.
Actress Mayim Bialik defied Hollywood stereotypes by not only playing brilliant, strong women on TV and in film, but also working as a neuroscientist in real life.
Rita Sapiro Finkler was a pioneer in the field of endocrinology, making important discoveries about the role hormones play in pregnancy, menopause, and other aspects of women’s health.
Mathilde Krim made tremendous contributions to fighting AIDS both directly as a scientist and through fundraising as the creator of AmfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
Gerty Cori’s work on carbohydrate metabolism, which changed our understanding of diabetes and other diseases, earned her the Nobel Prize for Medicine, making her the first American woman and third woman ever given the honor.
Evelyn Fox Keller’s work in gender, biology, and the history of science led her to question the gendered metaphors and assumptions of biologists and sociologists, which often blinded them to basic scientific facts.
As a Sephardic Jew from Argentina, Rita Arditti’s experience as “a minority within a minority” drove her to document another invisible group: the grandmothers of the disappeared children.
