ONLY IN AMERICA In celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month 2017
MEDICAL PIONEERS A Salute to Research Scientists
SAVING THE WORLD Whoever saves one life saves the world entire. —Jerusalem Talmud Fear of polio was widespread across the United States in the first half of the 20th century. The virus-borne disease paralyzed tens of thousands of Americans, including a future president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Then came a huge breakthrough: In April 1955, a vaccine developed by research scientist Jonas Salk was declared safe and effective for preventing polio. A little more than 10 years later, the number of annual cases in the US fell from 50,000 to fewer than 1,000. Terror of polio dissipated and Dr. Salk, son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, became a national hero. A film about the famous scientist and a vial of his revolutionary vaccine can be viewed in the Museum’s Only in America® Gallery/Hall of Fame. Jonas Salk’s dedication to medical research is justly famous, but not unique. Over the years, tens of thousands of American Jews, imbued with the Jewish value of deep respect for life, have become medical doctors and researchers. In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM), this booklet highlights the stories of three noted researchers: Gertrude Elion, Eric Kandel, and Mathilde Krim. All three were much decorated; two were honored with medical science’s highest award, the Nobel Prize. And yet, their inspiring stories deserve much wider recognition. That’s why the National Museum of American Jewish History—the lead sponsor of JAHM 2017—is proud to present “Medical Pioneers,” brief portraits of these three heroes of scientific research. Warmly,
Ivy L. Barsky, CEO and Gwen Goodman Director Above: Magazine photo of Jonas Salk in laboratory. Wisdom Magazine, Aug. 1956 (Vol.1, No. 8). Photo by Yousuf Karsh.
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HER BRILLIANT CAREER Gertrude B. Elion created lifesaving drugs and won a Nobel Prize for her groundbreaking work “I was told women didn’t go into chemistry,” Gertrude Elion once recalled. “I saw no reason why we couldn’t.” Luckily, nothing deterred Elion from her profession. As a chemist/researcher/inventor at Burroughs Wellcome pharmaceutical company (now GlaxoSmithKline), Elion and her team developed drugs effective against an astonishing number of diseases— including lupus, hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, malaria, herpes, gout, and other bacterial and viral infections. She devised the first successful treatment for childhood leukemia and created Imuran, a drug that opened the door to organ transplants. These accomplishments grew out of Elion’s 40-year working relationship with her mentor, Dr. George Hitchings. Elion and Dr. Hitchings pioneered a new method for developing disease-fighting drugs. They studied the difference between normal cells and pathogens (disease-causing agents) and created substances that would kill diseased cells while leaving healthy ones untouched. In 1988, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine. The prize citation read, in part, “George Hitchings and Gertrude Elion’s research revolutionized both the development of new pharmaceuticals and the field of medicine in general.” Elion’s path to the Nobel was inspired by the loss of a close family member. Born in New York City in 1918 to Eastern European immigrant parents, Trudy had shown early signs of brilliance: By age 15, she had skipped four grades and was preparing to graduate from high school. At just that moment, her beloved grandfather died of stomach cancer. “I was highly motivated to do something that might eventually lead to a cure for this terrible disease,” Elion later explained. She studied chemistry (Continued on next page.) Above: Gertrude Elion, biochemist and pharmacologist, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1988.
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at New York City’s Hunter College, graduating summa cum laude in 1937. For the next few years, she struggled, as graduate schools and companies in her field were unwilling to employ women. To survive financially, she taught high school science, worked as a receptionist, and briefly went to secretarial school. It wasn’t until Dr. Hitchings hired Elion at Burroughs Wellcome in 1944 that her brilliant career began. Gertrude Elion received 25 honorary doctorates, and her name is on 45 drug patents. When she died in 1999, the CEO of Glaxo said, “While blazing new trails as a woman scientist … Dr. Elion persevered in work that led to advances in treatments for a variety of diseases. Along the way, she touched patients all over the world.” Elion has recently been inducted as the 20th honoree in the Museum’s Only in America® Gallery/Hall of Fame. LEARN MORE: Interviews, bios, and photos of Gertrude Elion can be found at these websites: • Jewish Women’s Archive at jwa.org • Academy of Achievement at achievement.org/achiever/gertrude-elion
Above: Gertrude Elion and Dr. George Hitchings in the laboratory at Burroughs Wellcome in 1948. Courtesy of the Wellcome Foundation.
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INVESTIGATING MEMORY Noted neuroscientist Eric Kandel’s research uncovered secrets of how we learn and remember Eric Kandel vividly remembers two strange men entering his home in Vienna and forcing his family out. The date was November 9, 1938—Kristallnacht, the notorious night of Nazi violence against Jews. Eric was nine years old. Within a few months, the Kandel family escaped, relocating to the United States. In Brooklyn, safely removed from the Holocaust’s horror, Eric excelled in academics. Upon graduation from NYU Medical School, he began exploring memory—specifically, the physiology of long- and short-term memory. For 50 years, he continued that research, making many important discoveries about how brains store and retrieve memories. In 2000, Dr. Kandel won a share of a Nobel Prize in medicine for this work. Many years later, he noted, “I cannot help but think that the experiences of my last year in Vienna helped to determine my later interests in the mind, in how people behave, the unpredictability of motivation, and the persistence of memory.” Dr. Kandel hopes his discoveries may lead to treatments for memory-related disorders such as Alzheimer’s. “The clinical benefits that we’ve gained out of what we’ve learned so far have been modest,” he said in 2013, but added, “The best is yet to come.” LEARN MORE: Read Eric Kandel’s prize-winning memoir, In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind.
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“ THE CLINICAL BENEFITS THAT WE’VE GAINED OUT OF WHAT WE’VE LEARNED SO FAR HAVE BEEN MODEST. THE BEST IS YET TO COME.” — DR. ERIC KANDEL
Above: Neuroscientist Eric Kandel, MD, at the World Economics Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, 2013. Photo by Bengt Oberger.
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BATTLING A DEADLY DISEASE Dr. Mathilde Krim: A Courageous, Crucial Voice for AIDS Research A puzzling, life-threatening malady called acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) first appeared in the early 1980s. Many Americans responded with fear of the disease and of those who had it. At the time, Dr. Mathilde Krim, a medical research supervisor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, was working with patients with Kaposi’s sarcoma, an AIDS-related ailment. Speaking about the stigma then associated with the disease, Dr. Krim remembered, “I was incensed! So many young men were dying . . . abandoned or alone because they were afraid to contact their families.” Her anger led to action. Over the next two decades, Dr. Krim worked tirelessly to raise funds, support research, and foster public awareness to combat AIDS. In 1983, she founded an advocacy organization that two years later merged with another to become the leading force in the fight against AIDS, amfAR (the American Foundation for AIDS Research). Dr. Krim continued her vigorous campaign while a professor at Columbia University’s School of Public Health. From her early days as a medical student in Switzerland to her support for the founding of Israel in the 1940s, Dr. Krim has compiled a remarkable record of achievement. Her crucial activism in the AIDS crisis brought her many accolades, including 14 honorary degrees. In 2000, President Bill Clinton honored Mathilde Krim with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, calling her “an extraordinary example of compassion and commitment.” LEARN MORE about Dr. Krim’s career at jwa.org. For more information about amfAR, visit amfar.org.
Top left: Courtesy of Dartmouth College. Bottom right: Dr. Krim, 1995, Gay Pride Parade, New York City. Courtesy of amfAR.
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Photo: Mario Manzoni
A MONTH OF LEARNING Jewish American Heritage Month is a perfect time to increase your knowledge of Jewish history and achievements in medical research. Find more information, including helpful web links, at NMAJH.org/jahm. 1. Learn about the Jewish hospital movement. Beginning in the 1850s, hospitals in more than 20 US cities were founded to provide poor Jews with care and to respond to anti-Semitism. Discover more about the movement at http://bit.ly/jewishhospitals. Inspired by that story, look into the history of a Jewish hospital or research facility in your region. 2. Compile your family’s genetic history. Sit down with relatives and ask about your family’s medical history. This knowledge could save a life! Begin the process at cdc.gov/genomics/famhistory. 3. Visit institutions specializing in Jewish history and culture. Locate Jewishthemed museums, bookstores, archives, theaters, and community centers at cajm.net. 4. Discover some of the hundreds of JAHM events planned for May. Check out the list at jewishamericanheritagemonth.us. 5. Sample short biographies of Jewish American Nobel laureates. At nobelprize.org, discover profiles and speeches by winners in all categories. Read about physiology/medicine laureates Rosalyn Yalow, Selman Waksman, Joshua Lederberg, Harold Varmus, Salvador Luria, and many others. 6. Explore the Jewish Women’s Archive. Learn in greater detail about Gertrude Elion, Mathilde Krim, and many other notable American Jewish women at jwa.org. 7. Why did so many Jews go into science? One provocative theory is presented in the book A Chosen Calling: Jews and Science in the 20th Century by Bar-Ilan University professor Noah J. Efron. 7
ONLY IN AMERICA GALLERY / HALL OF FAME AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY ®
The Only in America® Gallery / Hall of Fame honors a select group of American Jews whose lives were filled with remarkable achievements. The 2017 inductee is distinguished scientist Gertrude Elion, who becomes the 20th member.
Only in America® Gallery / Hall of Fame
Inductees Irving Berlin Leonard Bernstein Louis Brandeis Albert Einstein Gertrude Elion Mordecai Kaplan Sandy Koufax Estée Lauder
Emma Lazarus Isaac Leeser Golda Meir Julius Rosenwald Jonas Salk Menachem Mendel Schneerson Rose Schneiderman
Isaac Bashevis Singer Steven Spielberg Barbra Streisand Henrietta Szold Isaac Mayer Wise
Learn more about these distinguished Jewish Americans, and many others, at survey.NMAJH.org.
Find us on JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND ADVISORY COMMITTEE* JAHM BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Greg Rosenbaum, Palisades Associates, Inc. Marcia Jo Zerivitz, Jewish Museum of Florida (emerita) Dr. Gary P. Zola, The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives
JAHM ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Laura Apelbaum, Apelbaum Nonprofit Consulting Ivy L. Barsky, National Museum of American Jewish History Rachel Lithgow, American Jewish Historical Society Gail Reimer, Jewish Women’s Archive (emerita) Shelley Rood, The Jewish Federations of North America Judith Rosenbaum, PhD, Jewish Women’s Archive
Abby S. Schwartz, The Skirball Museum in Cincinnati Mel Wacks, Jewish-American Hall of Fame Melissa Martens Yaverbaum, Council of American Jewish Museums FOUNDERS
Senator Arlen Specter, z”l Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
NMAJH.org/JAHM | 215.923.3811 On Historic Independence Mall Philadelphia Cover image: Vial, Polio vaccine trial, 1954-1955. Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center.