Alice Ball

Alice Ball Unsung heroine who saved THOUSANDS OF LIVESThis chemist died too soon and didn’t get to see her medical treatment rolled out around the world.

Did you know? The only chaulmoogra tree at the University of Hawaii features a plaque to commemorate Alice Ball.

The Ball Method

At the University of Hawaii, Ball researched the use of oil from the chaulmoogra tree in the treatment of leprosy. This life-threatening condition damages the skin and the nervous system. For centuries, chaulmoogra oil had been applied to skin to treat leprosy, but Ball developed a highly effective, INJECTABLE FORM OF THE OIL EXTRACT. This technique of relieving leprosy symptoms came to be known as the Ball Method.

Ball investigated the chemical properties of the oil extracted from the seeds of the chaulmoogra berry.

Historic graduation

Alice Augusta Ball was born in Seattle,

USA, in 1892. She was interested in science at high school and went on to study PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMISTRY AND PHARMACY at the

University of Washington. In 1915, Ball became the first woman and the first African-American to graduate with a master’s degree from the University of Hawaii.

What came before…

The first known account of leprosy is found in an ancient Egyptian papyrus, known as Ebers Papyrus, dating back to about 1550 bce. The Ebers Papyrus is one of the oldest records of Egyptian medicine.

In 1873, leprosy was

proven to be contagious

when Norwegian doctor Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen used a microscope to identify the germ that causes leprosy.

By the way... I was the first woman, and the first African-American, to teach chemistry at the University of Hawaii.

Ball isolated the necessary chemicals from the oil to develop its injectable form.

Who came after…

In 1947, Marie Maynard daly became the first African-American to graduate with a PhD in chemistry. She went on to have a successful career in biochemistry.

Belated recognition

Not long after developing the oil extract, Ball died, aged 24. Decades later, in the 21st century, she received the credit she deserved. In 2000, the Governor of Hawaii declared 29 February to be ALICE BALL DAY, a date celebrated every leap year. The University of Hawaii gave Alice Ball their highest award, the Regents’ Medal of Distinction, in 2007.

How she changed the world Alice Ball’s incredible contribution to medicine helped thousands of people and remained the best treatment for leprosy until the 1940s.

Starting in 1979, dr Vijay Pannikar supervised a leprosy therapy using many different anti-bacterial drugs. This greatly reduced leprosy cases.