Mary Hewitt Loveless was an American physician and immunologist who specialized in allergies.
10 Facts About Mary Loveless
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Mary Loveless is best known for her discovery that Hymenoptera insect venom allergies could be treated with extracts of the insects' venom sacs.
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Mary Loveless earned a Bachelor of Arts in biology at Stanford University in 1921, supporting herself by working as a waitress and a secretary.
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Mary Loveless then began a Doctor of Medicine at Stanford as one of only two women in her class and graduated in 1925.
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Mary Loveless completed her medical internship at San Francisco General Hospital before setting up a private practice in the city and taking on an assistant role at the Stanford University School of Medicine in the early 1930s.
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Mary Loveless left the position in 1938 for an appointment as associate professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.
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Mary Loveless hypothesized that the allergens were concentrated in the insect venom rather than the whole body, and thus that injections of venom-sac extract would be a more effective therapy.
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In 1956 Mary Loveless published the article "Wasp Venom Allergy and Immunity" based on the research she had performed at her clinic.
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Mary Loveless was a member of the AAI and the Harvey Society, and a fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
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Mary Loveless died on June 2,1991, in Westport, Connecticut, at the age of 92.