Gertrude Belle Elion was an industrial biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1988 for the development of the antiviral drug acyclovir for cancer treatment. A daughter of immigrants from central Europe, she was born in New York City on January 23, 1918. In high school Elion earned very high grades and so was admitted to Hunter College, the women's section of the City College of New York. Despite economic hardships, she graduated from Hunter College in 1937 with highest honors.

It wasn't until 1942 that Elion was able to secure laboratory positions, both of which turned out to be temporary. In 1944 she was hired by Burroughs Wellcome Company (later to be Glaxo Wellcome), which specialized in pharmaceuticals. She and George Hutchings worked together, basing their research on a knowledge of basic biochemical and physiological processes, rather than the trial and error methods being used at the time. For this work they won the Nobel Prize. During her time at Burroughs Wellcome Company, Elion also developed drugs for leukemia treatment (6-MP), organ transplants (Imuran), and AIDS (AZT)--40 patents bear her name. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Gertrude Elion received the Garvan Medal in 1968 and the National Medal of Science in 1991. She retired from Glaxo Wellcome in 1983. Gertrude Belle Elion died on February 21, 1999 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

1. Gertrude Belle Elion
2. The Nobel Prize Internet Archive: Gertrude Belle Elion
3. National Women's Hall of Fame: Gertrude Elion
4. The Lemelson-MIT Program's Invention Dimension: Gertrude Belle Elion

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