Florence Rena Sabin (1871–1953), William Osler (1849–1919) and Tuberculosis

Abstract

Florence Rena Sabin received her MD from the Johns Hopkins University in 1900. She was one of the first women to become a medical intern at Johns Hopkins and worked for the year of her internship (1900–01) under William Osler. At Johns Hopkins from y>1902 to 1925, Sabin studied embryology and histology with mentor Franklin Mall. She became the first woman professor of histology at an American school. Recruited to the Rockefeller Institute (1925), she focused on tuberculosis immunology, tubercle-bacillus biochemistry and haematology. She was the first woman department head at the Rockefeller and, in 1925, the first woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Settling in Colorado in 1938, she entered public health, emphasizing tuberculosis control. She received the Trudeau Award in 1945 and the Lasker Award in 1951. Her experience with tuberculosis under Osler's tutelage defined the shape of her work in basic tuberculosis research and in public health.