Elizabeth Hattie Alexander-Post 1

Madeline Warren

10 October 2019

Elizabeth Hattie Alexander spent most of her scientific career as a physician. Her most noteworthy scientific discovery was helping to find the cure for influenzal and bacterial meningitis. (Science Online).

Personal Life and Education

According to AccessScience, Alexander was born in Baltimore on April 5, 1901. She had seven siblings; one older and six younger. She received her high school diploma from Western High School for Girls. In high school, she participated in and excelled at Track and Field. In college, Alexander earned average grades and was a mediocre student. Many people including her professors expected little from her, but Alexander aspired to a doctor. She attended Goucher College and in 1932 she earned her bachelor’s degree (Britannica Academic). She was a bacteriologist for three years before attending John Hopkins University (Access Science).

After she graduated and received her M.D., Alexander accepted multiple internships. These included ones at the Harriet Lane Home, in her home town of Baltimore. She worked there for one year before accepting an internship in New York City at “the Babies Hospital of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.” (Science Online). In these positions, she got her first exposure to the disease and shortly afterward began her work for a cure. Eventually, Alexander was given a full-time job at the hospital as a pediatrics doctor. She worked there and as a professor until her death in 1968. Alexander died of cancer (Access Science). She was 67. (Gale).

She also worked as a professor at Columbia University for over two decades (Gale). Alexander was loved by her students and peers alike. They were impressed with her work in the medical field and her passion (Access Science).

Alexander was named the president of the American pediatric society in 1964. She was the first woman to hold the title (Science Online).

Contributions

At the time Alexander entered the medical field, there was little to no treatment for the illness and “was fatal in 100% of cases” (Access Science). Her and a colleague named Michael Heidelberger conducted trials using rabbits. They took samples from meningitis patients and injected it into the healthy rabbits. The rabbits would make “antibodies” to fight off the infection and they used those to “develop an anti-serum” that was used to cure the sick patients.

Influenzal Meningitis fatality rates went from 100 to 20 percent, due to the work of Heidelberger and Alexander. They accomplished this in two years. Alexander continued her fight against the disease and rates successfully dropped even lower-to ten percent (Access Science).

Alexander then began finding a cure for the bacterial version of the disease, with the help of Grace Leidy, her assistant. Together they experimented with DNA and its genetics to figure out why it was rejecting treatment for the bacterial illness (Access Science).

Implications of Work for Everyday Life

Access Science and Britannica Academic explain that Meningitis can be a viral or bacterial disease. It was a common illness and caused many deaths in young children and babies during Alexander’s lifetime. Her work as a physician and bacteriologist was crucial in curing the sickness. Without her efforts and findings, influenzal meningitis fatality rates would still be much higher (Access Science).

Event in History

Alexander lived from the years 1901-1968, and she experienced both World Wars. She was in college during the years between World War 1 and World War 2. During the first year of the Second World War (in 1939) the first cure for the viral disease in infants was found by Alexander (Britannica Academic).

Similarities

Elizabeth Hattie Alexander was a dreamer. She had immense goals for her life and herself while in college as she knew she wanted to go into the medical field and help people (Science Online). I am similar to her in the sense that I too have set goals I hope to accomplish in my future career in the field of Journalism/Communications. I aspire to be an influential Journalist. Particularly one who writes with honesty and one who writes to inform the general public on important topics. I find a sense of joy in helping people and I want to make an impact as she did. Alexander kept her courage and ambition despite being doubted by many. Eventually, she went on to make one of many important scientific discoveries, and a cure for a life-threatening disease. It is for those traits that I find her extremely admirable.

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Works Cited

Oakes, Elizabeth H. “Alexander, Hattie Elizabeth.” Encyclopedia of World Scientists, Revised Edition, Facts On File, 2007. Science Online, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=11992&itemid=WE40&articleId=298380. Accessed 29 Sept. 2019.

“Alexander, Hattie Elizabeth.” AccessScience. https://www-accessscience-com.lcc.idm.oclc.org/content/alexander-hattie-elizabeth/m0090590. Accessed 29 Sept. 2019.

“Hattie Elizabeth Alexander.” Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 11 Mar. 2011. academic-eb-com.lcc.idm.oclc.org/levels/collegiate/article/Hattie-Elizabeth-Alexander/124900. Accessed 10 Oct. 2019.

“Hattie Alexander.” Notable Women Scientists, Gale, 2000. Gale In Context: World History, https://link-gale-com.lcc.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/K1668000009/WHIC?u=lom_lansingcc&sid=WHIC&xid=b81e1729. Accessed 10 Oct. 2019.