International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2023

ALICE AUGUSTA BALL 

The US chemist Alice Augusta Ball who lived a short live between 1892 and 1915 found the first leprosy treatment (then called Hansen's disease), an injectable form of Chaulmoogra oil before antibiotics were developed only much later.

Leprosy was a widespread disease, had a huge stigma attached and separated families / whole communities because infected patient often had to live as outlaws.

With Ball’s treatment she aided whole communities and families, therefore she is one of my heroes. 

Theresa Burkard, Postdoctoral Data Scientist 

SARAH SNELLING 

I would like to say that my science icon is NDORMS very own Sarah Snelling.

Sarah is a brilliant scientist and somehow manages to achieve so much in addition to being a driving force in student teaching and staff welfare. You only have to hear what her students say about her to know she is a truly great mentor. 

Nicholas Ilott, Senior Researcher

FRANCES OLDHAM KELSEY

Frances Oldham Kelsey was a Canadian pharmacologist/ physician who stayed true to her role as a reviewer for the FDA (USA), and refused to grant a company permission for a drug called thalidomide despite the drug already being approved in dozens of countries globally.

She insisted that more scientifically reliable data regarding proof of the drug’s safety was required despite pressure from the company. A year later, other countries linked thalidomide to clusters of severe, rare birth defects. 

Thanks to her work, the drug was never marketed in the US and her actions of avoiding a near disaster also changed USA’s drug regulation policies. 

Jacqueline Siu, Senior Bioinformatician in Immune Single Cell Genomics 

ROSALIND FRANKLIN

Rosalind Franklin is perhaps the most famous person not to have won the Nobel Prize (the committee does not award posthumous prizes). 

A Cambridge educated chemist, her X-ray crystallography work on DNA at King’s was crucial to Watson, Crick, and Wilkins defining the now famous double helical structure of DNA.

This work forms the basis of modern genetics, which has led to many fundamental discoveries about the biological basis of health and disease, and continues to drive biological research today.

Dominic Furniss, Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

MARIE COLINET 

Marie Colinet was Swiss and lived around the 16th century. She had no education but helping out her husband, Wilhelm Fabry, today called “The Father of German surgery”.

Gynaecology and obstetrics were her true passion and she soon advanced caesarean sections as well as easing vaginal delivery for women.

In a time when it was unthinkable for a woman to practice medicine, she was a gift for women in her generation and women to come (like me) who benefited from her inventions.

Theresa Burkard, Postdoctoral Data Scientist 

SARAH DAVIDSON 

Dr Sarah Davidson is an inspiring science icon and a wonderful mentor – she goes above and beyond her duties as a post-doc in supervising and supporting PhD and master’s students of the lab.

She is patient and kind in her mentorship approach and her scientific work exemplifies integrity and excellence.

Ananya Bhalla, Laboratory Technician (Tissue Imaging)