She Invented That A digital museum of women in science

Scientist Exhibit

Gertrude B. Elion

Chemistry • Biology & Life Sciences • Medicine & Health

1918 – 1999 United States

Developed rational drug-design methods and treatments for leukemia and other diseases

Overview Institutions
Gertrude B. Elion

Overview

About Gertrude B. Elion

Gertrude B. Elion helped pioneer a systematic approach to drug development based on differences between healthy cells and disease-causing organisms. Working with George Hitchings and colleagues, she contributed to medicines used against leukemia, malaria, gout, viral infections, and transplant rejection.

Scientific Contribution

Key Discovery

Rational drug design

Systematic development of drugs by targeting specific biochemical processes rather than relying only on trial and error.

Life Timeline

Important Moments

1944

career

Joins Burroughs Wellcome

Elion joined George Hitchings's laboratory at Burroughs Wellcome and began the long programme of rational drug research that defined her career.

1950

discovery

Develops purine analogues for drug therapy

Elion and colleagues developed compounds that interfered selectively with purine metabolism, opening routes to new treatments for leukaemia and other diseases.

1957

discovery

Work contributes to the immunosuppressant azathioprine

The purine-analogue research programme led to azathioprine, which became important in organ transplantation and autoimmune disease.

1988

award

Receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Elion shared the 1988 Nobel Prize with George Hitchings and James Black for important principles of drug treatment.

Places & Networks

Institutions