Women in Science: Dr Rena Florence Sabin

Changing the face of medicine...

Florence Rena Sabin was one of the first women doctors to build a career as a research scientist. She was the first woman on the faculty at the famous Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, starting in 1901 and soon building an impressive reputation for her work in embryology (study of human embryos) and histology (the study of tissues). She also overturned the traditional explanation of the development of the lymphatic system by proving that it developed from the veins in the embryo and grew out into tissues.

In 1925, Sabin moved to the Rockefeller Institute to head the cellular immunology section, the first woman full member of the institute, and began to receive professional recognition at the highest levels. In 1924 she had become the first woman to serve as president of the American Association of Anatomists, and in 1926 she became the first woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences.