Florence R. Sabin

Florence R. Sabin
Florence R. Sabin
Born	November 9, 1871 Central City, Colorado Territory
Died	October 3, 1953(1953-10-03) (aged 81) Denver, Colorado
Nationality	American
Fields	Medicine
Institutions	Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Alma mater	Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Known for	pioneer for women in science Sabin Health Laws

Florence Rena Sabin (November 9, 1871 – October 3, 1953) was an American medical scientist. She was a pioneer for women in science; she was the first woman to hold a full professorship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the first woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and the first woman to head a department at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. In her retirement years, she pursued a second career as a public health activist in Colorado, and in 1951 received a Lasker Award for this work.

Florence Sabin was born in Central City, Colorado, on November 9, 1871, the youngest daughter of Serena Miner and George K. Sabin. Her father was a mining engineer, so the family spent several years in mining communities (Smith College n.d.). At the age of seven, Florence’s mother died from puerperal fever (sepsis), and after her death, Sabin and her sister Mary lived with their Uncle Albert Sabin in Chicago and then with their paternal grandparents in Vermont.

Sabin earned her bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1893. She taught high school mathematics in Denver for two years and zoology at Smith for one year in order to earn enough money for her first year of tuition (National Library of Medicine 1923). Sabin attended the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as one of fourteen women in her class. The school had opened in 1893 and from the beginning admitted both men and women, in fulfillment of one of the conditions of the gift that made its opening possible.

While at Hopkins, Sabin’s observational skills and perseverance in the laboratory captured the attention of anatomist Franklin P. Mall. Mall encouraged Sabin and helped her to become involved in two projects that would build a solid reputation for her among fellow scientists (Parkhurst 1930). The projects suggested by Franklin P. Mall shaped the future of Sabin’s research and reputation. The first project was to produce a three-dimensional model of a newborn baby’s brainstem which became the focus of the textbook, An Atlas of the Medulla and Midbrain, published in 1901 (Sabin 1901). The second project involved the embryological development of the lymphatic system which proved that the lymphatic system is formed from the embryo’s blood vessels and not other tissues (Smith College n.d.).