Background
Sarah Elizabeth Stewart was born on August 16, 1905 in Tecalitlán, Jalisco, Mexico.
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Sarah Stewart
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Education
She did her undergraduate work at the New Mexico State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1927.
Career
Early life and education
Born to a Mexican mother and American engineer father, she moved back to the United States at the age of 5. She went on to earn a master"s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1930 and a Doctor of Philosophy in microbiology from the University of Chicago in 1939. In 1949, she became the first woman to be awarded an Doctor of Medicine Degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine.
Stewart joined the National Institutes of Health (National Institutes of Health) from 1935-1944 while completing her Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago.
She went on to teach microbiology at Georgetown University"s School of Medicine, and once women were allowed to enroll, she became their first female graduate at the age of 39. Stewart returned to the National Institutes of Health in 1951, joining the National Cancer Institute (National Cancer Institute), and eventually becoming medical director
Stewart developed an interest in researching viral links to cancer in light of the pioneering research of Jonas Salk in developing a vaccine for the virus which caused polio. Stewart is credited with discovering the Polyomavirus in 1953.
Stewart was the first to successfully demonstrate that viruses causing cancer could be spread from animal to animal.
She left the National Institutes of Health to become professor at Georgetown University in 1971. Death and afterward
Stewart died of cancer at her home in New Smyrna Beach, Florida on November 27, 1976. A collection of her papers is held at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.
Connections
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Born
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Died
November 27, 1976 (aged 71) -
Nationality
Mexican American