Gertrude Belle Elion

Gertrude Elion was born in New York City in 1918. She was educated at hunter College and completed a Masters Degree at the University of New York.

During WWII she joined the BurroughsWellcome in 1944 as a research associate of George Hitchings. Since 1983 has been Emeritus Scientist.

Along with him she worked on drug development. They initialized compounds that inhibited DNA synthesis, hoping that these could prevent the growth of cancer cells.

In the 1970's, they produced an anti-viral compound called acyclovir, which is active against the herpes virus. In 1988, they shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with the Scottish pharmacist Sir James Black.