1. Hattie Elizabeth Alexander was an American pediatrician and microbiologist.
27 Facts About Hattie Alexander
1. 2.
Hattie Alexander occupied many prestigious positions at Columbia University and was well honored even after her death from liver cancer in 1968.
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Hattie Alexander is known for her development of the first effective remedies for Haemophilus influenzae infection, as well as being one of the first scientists to identify and study antibiotic resistance.
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Hattie Alexander has received many awards and honors including the E Mead Johnson Award in 1942, for her headway in pediatric research and antibiotic resistance.
5.
Hattie Alexander was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 5,1901, the second of seven children.
6.
Hattie Alexander's birth was not registered properly, thus later on in her life she had to provide proof of her baptism in order to receive a passport.
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Hattie Alexander distinguished herself throughout school, so much so that her high school English teacher obtained a full scholarship for her at Goucher College.
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Hattie Alexander graduated from Goucher College in 1923 with a bachelor's of arts degree in bacteriology and physiology.
9.
One of the first jobs Hattie Alexander had after she graduated was in the National Laboratory in Washington, DC, as a bacteriologist.
10.
Hattie Alexander completed her internship at Baltimore's Harriet Lane Home located at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
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Hattie Alexander was afterwards a resident at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center's Babies Hospital in New York City, due to an invitation from Dr McIntosh, where she stayed for the rest of her career.
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In 1932, Hattie Alexander became an instructor and researcher in the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University, where she spent her entire professional career.
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From 1936 to 1943, Hattie Alexander was the associate in pediatrics before continuing to work her way up the professional chain by becoming assistant professor in 1943, associate professor in 1948, and finally professor from 1958.
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Hattie Alexander was the first woman to serve as president of the American Pediatric Society.
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Hattie Alexander died of liver cancer in New York City on June 24,1968.
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Hattie Alexander's obituary was published in The New York Times and The Baltimore Sun, which recognized her for producing the first treatment for influenzal meningitis.
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Hattie Alexander's work aimed to advance research of infectious diseases and the biology of the microorganisms that cause meningitis in a time before antibiotics or vaccinations.
18.
Hattie Alexander's research focused primarily on the mechanisms and effects of meningitis in children which at the time had a high mortality rate.
19.
Hattie Alexander started her studies by trying to identify the prognostic and diagnostic strategies of meningitis.
20.
Hattie Alexander was able to successfully identify in one of her early studies the prognostic ability of cerebrospinal fluid in precipitin tests.
21.
Hattie Alexander noted that those with a positive precipitin test result had a higher rate of mortality than those with a negative result.
22.
Hattie Alexander started experimenting with rabbit serum and in 1939 she referenced in one of her research papers that the results looked promising for children.
23.
Hattie Alexander later experimented with sulfonamides and its effects on pyogenic meningitis.
24.
Hattie Alexander concluded that sulfonamides are insufficient in treating meningitis alone, and those who were treated with sulfonamides and recovered only did due to the antibodies that they produced.
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Hattie Alexander concluded, correctly, that this was caused by random genetic mutations in DNA which were positively selected through evolution; she and Leidy demonstrated the occurrence of transformation in the Hib bacillus, leading to resistance.
26.
Hattie Alexander was the first woman to be elected to this position.
27.
Hattie Alexander received two honorary degrees: one from Goucher College and one from Wheaton College.