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Celebrating Women in Pharmacology – International Women’s Day 2025
On this International Women’s Day, we honour the groundbreaking contributions of women in pharmacology whose work has shaped modern medicine:
Gertrude B. Elion – Developed life-saving drugs for leukaemia, organ transplants, and viral infections. (Nobel Prize 1988)
Frances Oldham Kelsey – Prevented thalidomide’s approval, strengthening drug safety regulations.
Tu Youyou – Discovered artemisinin, revolutionizing malaria treatment. (Nobel Prize 2015)
Rita Levi-Montalcini – Discovered nerve growth factor, advancing neurodegenerative disease research. (Nobel Prize 1986)
Janet Rideout – Led the development of lamivudine, a key HIV treatment.
Edith Bülbring - acknowledged by pharmacologists and physiologists as the most influential smooth muscle pharmacologist and physiologist in the world and one of the first women accepted to the Royal Society as a fellow (1958, 4th woman FRS.
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin - Determined the molecular structures of penicillin and vitamin B12 using X-ray crystallography (Nobel Prize 1964).
Katalin Karikó - Pioneered research on mRNA technology, which led to the development of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines (Nobel Prize 2023).
Jane Cooke Wright - revolutionized cancer treatment by developing innovative chemotherapy techniques and introducing the use of patient tumour biopsies to test drug efficacy.
These pioneers inspire future generations in pharmacology, reminding us of the vital role women play in advancing medicine.