Sarah Stewart (cancer researcher)

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Sarah Stewart
Sarah Stewart MD nci-vol-1921-300.jpg
Sarah Stewart
Born(1905-08-16)August 16, 1905
Tecalitlán, Jalisco, Mexico
DiedNovember 27, 1976(1976-11-27) (aged 71)
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
CitizenshipUSA
Alma materGeorgetown University School of Medicine
Known forfirst describing the Polyomavirus
Scientific career
FieldsViral Oncology
InstitutionsUnited States Public Health Service

Sarah E.Stewart (August 16, 1905 – November 27, 1976) was a Mexican American researcher who pioneered the field of viral oncology research, the first to show that cancer-causing viruses can spread from animal to animal. She and Bernice Eddy co-discovered the first polyoma virus, and Stewart-Eddy polyoma virus is named after them.[1]

Biography[]

Early life and education[]

Sarah Elizabeth Stewart was born on August 16, 1905 in Tecalitlán, Jalisco, Mexico.[2] Born to a Mexican mother and American engineer father, she moved back to the United States at the age of 5.[1] Due to the Mexican Revolution in 1906, she and her family were asked to leave the country, forcing them to migrate to the United States.[3] She however, would continue to speak Spanish fluently throughout her lifetime.[1] She did her undergraduate work at the New Mexico State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1927. She went on to earn a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1930 and a Ph.D in microbiology from the University of Chicago in 1939. In 1949, she became the first woman to be awarded an MD Degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine.[4] Her ability to achieve such a feat was at least partially due to the fact that she was already working there as a professor of bacteriology. She took classes while working as a professor and when Georgetown University School of Medicine finally allowed women into their programs, she has already completed a number of the required classes allowing her to finish her M.D. much faster than the typical four-years. [2] Her vast education and persistence to achieve her goals is astonishing, and makes one wonder if her passion for cancer research perhaps stemmed from her family's history of various cancers.[5]

Career[]

Sarah Elizabeth Stewart, ca 1950

Stewart joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 1935-1944 while completing her PhD at the University of Chicago.[1] During her time there, she took part in developing a vaccine for gangrene, which helped many soldiers during the second world war.[3] She later left her position in the NIH in order to pursue her goals in the research field, which was to prove that there was a connection between cancers and viruses.[3] This proved to be difficult for her due to a number of reasons. Firstly, she was a woman, when women were first allowed to be doctors they were generally pushed to be in the gynecological department and Sarah was not the exception.[5] In addition, the two fields of cancer research and viruses were thought to be completely separate and it was arbitrary at the time to think otherwise. At the time it was thought that virologists were not qualified enough to take part in cancer research and microbiologists were overqualified to do it. [2]

Despite all of these obstacles she continued to pursue her passion and made leaps and bounds in this field. She even helped to identify other viruses in her lifetime, viruses such as herpes, Burkitt's and what are known as C-type viruses.[2] Stewart developed an interest in researching viral links to cancer in light of the pioneering research of Jonas Salk in developing a vaccine for the virus which caused polio. Stewart is credited with discovering the Polyomavirus in 1953.[4] She and research partner, Dr. Bernice E. Eddy, were successful in growing the virus in 1958 and the SE (Stewart-Eddy) polyoma virus is named after them. They were able to prove that the polyoma virus could create 20 different kinds of tumors in mice as well as other animals.[1] Stewart was the first credited to successfully demonstrate that viruses causing cancer could be spread from animal to animal.[6] This experiment and its results, amongst other similar experiments, led many researchers to becoming interested in the field viral oncology.[1] She left the NIH to become professor at Georgetown University in 1971.[7]

Sarah Stewart was developing her research at about the same time as a scientist named Ludwik Gross. They both seemed to be unaware of the other until sometime in 1952 when Gross was contacted by Dr. Stewart. Her having already been doing her research did not arrive to the same conclusion as Gross did. She had questions about his findings and was invited to his lab in New York. [5] Additionally there was quite a stir when the SE polyoma virus was named. Gross believed that he discovered it first and therefore Stewart was out of line and should not have named it. Traditionally, it is the scientist who discovers something first that gets to name it. Gross believed he found it first and so did Stewart. Most organizations and researchers credited Steward and Eddy for the finding though Gross did not let his frustrations go unheard and wrote a number of letter to publishers.[5]

Death and afterward[]

Stewart died of cancer at her home in New Smyrna Beach, Florida on November 27, 1976.[8] A collection of her papers is held at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.[9]

Awards[]

In 1965, Stewart was awarded the Federal Women’s Award.[1] She also won the Lenghi Award of the Accademia Nazionale Dei Lincei and the Daughters of Penelope Salute to Women Award in 1972 amongst many more.[2]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Fulghieri, Carl; Bloom, Sharon (2014). "Sarah Elizabeth Stewart". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 20 (5): 893–895. doi:10.3201/eid2005.131876. ISSN 1080-6040. PMC 4012821. PMID 24751102.
  2. ^ a b c d e Cancer Research, Sarah Stewart, Obituary, Volume 37, 4675
  3. ^ a b c McNeill, Leila. "The Woman Who Revealed the Missing Link Between Viruses and Cancer". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  4. ^ a b Biography from gwis.org Archived 2008-07-04 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ a b c d "(PDF) Ludwik Gross, Sarah Stewart, and the 1950s discoveries of Gross murine leukemia virus and polyoma virus". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2021-02-28.
  6. ^ Stanley, Autumn. Mothers and Daughters of Invention, Page 165. 1993, Rutgers University Press.
  7. ^ "Sarah stewart student research lecture series". Georgetown University.
  8. ^ Smith, J. Y. (1976-12-08). "Dr. Sarah Stewart, Cancer Researcher, Dies". The Washington Post. p. C15.
  9. ^ "Sarah E. Stewart Papers 1927-1977". National Library of Medicine.
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