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Elizabeth Weisburger has been called "a real-life medical sleuth, world-renowned for her research in chemical carcinogenesis." (2) Through her pioneering investigations, Weisburger has identified biochemical pathways of malignant growth, mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and synthesized reference metabolites.
Elizabeth was born on April 9, 1924 in Finland, Pennsylvania. Both her parents were trained as school teachers. Her father, however, changed course and became an insurance agent. Her mother remained at home to raise the ten Kreiser children. Elizabeth was home-schooled until she was eight. With her Aunt Lottie Snavely, Elizabeth began to prepare throughout her high school years for scholarship examinations. Elizabeth was awarded a scholarship to Lebanon Valley College, where she earned a B.S. degree in chemistry in 1944. Because of World War II, Elizabeth was able to secure a graduate assistantship in chemistry at the University of Cincinnati. She decided on this university because of the recommendation of a Lebanon Valley College graduate.
In 1947, Elizabeth earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Cincinnati, where she remained as a postdoctoral associate with Professor Francis Earl Ray. Here she began her carcinogenesis work by synthesizing analogs of a research carcinogen as part of a project funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). She was married that same year to fellow graduate student John Hans Weisburger. The following year, they both went to NCI, located in Bethesda Maryland, on postdoctoral fellowships. In 1951 she qualified to become an officer in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service; her appointment was to the NCI Laboratory of Biochemistry. Ten years later, the Weisburgers were asked to form a research group to test for carcinogenic activity in environmental and industrial compounds. The Weisburgers collaboration lasted until 1974 when they divorced. Elizabeth stayed at NCI, became head of the Laboratory of Carcinogen Metabolism. In 1981 she was appointed assistant director for chemical carcinogenesis in the NCI Division of Cancer Etiology, where she stayed until her retirement in 1988.
Elizabeth Weisburger has received many prestigious awards, including the Hildebrand Prize of the Chemical Society of Washington (1981), the Garvan Medal (1981), the Distinguished Service Medal of the U.S. Public Health Service (1985), and honorary D.Sc. degrees from her undergraduate and graduate institutions. She has published over 100 scientific papers on carcinogenesis.
Elizabeth Weisburger has three children, William, Diane, and Andrew.
Elizabeth Weisburger is still actively involved in NCI projects, as well as teaching a graduate course at the National Institutes of Health, writing papers, lecturing, and supporting the arts.
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