James R. Wright

Lydia Marie DeWitt and Mary Butler Kirkbride: Prototypical Circa–Early-1900s Women of Pathology and an Analysis of Their Contributions to the Discovery of Insulin

  • Medical Laboratory Technology
  • General Medicine
  • Pathology and Forensic Medicine
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Context.— The year 2023 marks the centenary of the Nobel Prize honoring the discovery of insulin. Little-known experimental pathologists Lydia DeWitt, MD, at the University of Michigan and Mary Kirkbride, DSc [Hon], at Columbia University, both just beginning their academic careers, made independent contributions to the discovery that have never been critically examined. This happened at a time when women in pathology were exceedingly rare. Objective.— To explore the facilitative roles of DeWitt and Kirkbride in the discovery and to examine their trail-breaking careers in academic pathology. Design.— Available primary and secondary historical resources were reviewed. Results.— DeWitt made and tested pancreatic extracts from duct-ligated atrophic pancreas (ie, Frederick Banting's great idea to prevent digestion of its hypothetical internal secretion) 15 years before Banting; Banting was unaware of her work. His idea came from reading a paper by pathologist Moses Barron. Prior duct-ligation studies had sometimes been viewed with skepticism because histologic identification of islets in atrophic duct-ligated pancreata was imperfect; Kirkbride addressed this with histochemical staining, convincing Barron and, therefore, indirectly influencing and motivating Banting. The lives and convoluted careers of these 2 early–20th-century women are explored and compared with those of other contemporary women in pathology. A unifying pattern becomes clear: careers in experimental pathology and bacteriology were accepted but performing clinical work in anatomic pathology was not. Conclusions.— Both DeWitt and Kirkbride are prototypical early–20th-century women in academic pathology whose careers were constrained by gender. However, Kirkbride made a unique and unrecognized contribution to the discovery of insulin.

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