Dr. Sara Elizabeth Stewart, born in Tecalitlán, Jalisco, Mexico in 1905, was a researcher who pioneered the field of viral oncology. Her father was an American mining engineer and her mother was Mexican. To escape the Mexican revolution, her family moved to the United States in 1911. She received two Bachelor’s degrees (1927) in Home Economics and General Science from New Mexico State University (NMSU), MS in Microbiology (1930) from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst (UMass), and PhD (1939) in Microbiology from the University of Chicago.
As there were limited options for women at the time, the general science courses gave her the room to secure a fellowship for her UMass studies. Before commencing her PhD studies, she was the first bacteriologist at the Colorado Experimental Station. Subsequently, her PHD work focused on anaerobic bacteria while she also served as an unpaid research assistant at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This work resulted in 7 manuscripts on anaerobic bacteria.
Dr. Stewart resigned from the NIH In 1944 after her request for support to study the link between tumors in animals and viral infections was denied. As women were not permitted to study medicine in the US at that time, she started teaching Microbiology and auditing medical courses at Georgetown University School of Medicine. After women were allowed to enroll in 1947, she became the first woman to obtain a MD (1949) from Georgetown at 39 years of age.
She resigned from the NIH In 1944 after her request for support to study the link between tumors in animals and viral infections was denied. As women were not permitted to study medicine in the US at that time, she started teaching Microbiology and auditing medical courses at Georgetown University School of Medicine. After women were allowed to enroll in 1947, she became the first woman to obtain a MD (1949) from Georgetown at 39 years of age.
Stewart became the Medical Director for the NCI Laboratory of Oncology where she continued to work on oncogenic viruses such as Epstein Barr Virus. In 1965, she was awarded the Federal Women’s Award by President Lyndon B. Johnson. She retired from the NIH in 1970 to become a Professor of Pathology at Georgetown. Stewart ultimately lost her battle to ovarian and lung cancer in 1976 and today she is remembered for her resilience and influence in the field of cancer.
Sources:
- https://www.takarabio.com/about/bioview-blog/current-events/national-hispanic-heritage-month/2023/dr-sarah-stewart?srsltid=AfmBOoq4MHHTDhchv2jmGns71Z73HKckbD5j-yacQ7oGkwUoZEOUpC1U
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4012821/
- https://som.georgetown.edu/stewartsocietybio/
- https://awis.org/historical-women/dr-sarah-elizabeth-stewart/
- https://history.nih.gov/display/history/Stewart%2C+Sarah
