Through dedication and brilliance, these Barnard women pursued careers in science that transformed how medicine was practiced.
Ida P. Rolf, Class of 1916
A biochemist who graduated more than a century ago, Rolf was a chemistry major at Barnard and received her Ph.D. in biological chemistry from Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S), becoming the first woman in a research position at the Rockefeller Institute in New York, where she studied organic chemistry. Rolf’s interests led her beyond academia and the lab to study a range of healing techniques, including homeopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic medicine, and yoga. In the 1940s, she developed and began to teach “Rolfing,” a holistic system of soft-tissue manipulation and movement education that is still practiced today by thousands and taught at 17 schools around the world.
Elizabeth Bishop Davis Trussell ’41
Mental health advocate Trussell created the foundations for community-based mental health services and education in Harlem. The psychoanalyst was dedicated to investigating racial and class disparities in mental health. After graduating from Barnard with a degree in psychology, she helped launch Harlem’s first mental health clinic, the Lafargue Mental Hygiene Clinic, while she was a first-year medical student at Columbia’s P&S. It was the only mental healthcare center at the time that cared for Black patients.
Helen Ranney ’41
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate and pre-med major at Barnard, Ranney was a hematologist who became the first person to identify a genetic factor in sickle cell anemia — a blood disorder that impacts millions globally. In addition to this groundbreaking work, Ranney achieved a number of incredible firsts in her career: She was the first female president of the Association of American Physicians; the first female chair of a department of medicine in the United States, in 1973, at the University of California San Diego; and the first woman to be named a Distinguished Physician of the Veterans Administration.
Lila Wallis ’47
The “godmother of women’s health,” the moniker given to Wallis, was hard-earned and well deserved. The only physician in the United States to have board certifications in internal medicine, hematology, and endocrinology and metabolism, she dramatically improved what used to be painful vaginal pelvic exams and communication by doctors who did not inform women what was occurring. Wallis spent her career bringing more women into the medical field, and she founded and served as the first president of the National Council on Women’s Health, which empowers women to make informed health decisions. She also published more than 70 books, including Textbook of Women’s Health (1998) and The Whole Woman: Take Charge of Your Health in Every Phase of Your Life (1999).
Ora Mendelsohn Rosen ’56
Little was understood of how to combat the widespread disease of diabetes before 1985, when Rosen and colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center successfully cloned an insulin receptor gene (INSR), which gave scientists a new understanding of cell communication in diseases such as diabetes and cancer.
Rosen was a native New Yorker who majored in zoology at Barnard and graduated first in her class, in 1960, from Columbia’s P&S. While a faculty member at Memorial Sloan Kettering, she researched the influence of hormones in relation to cell growth and development. Before the groundbreaking medical researcher passed away at age 54 from breast cancer, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, awarded the prestigious Banting Medal from the American Diabetes Association, and received an award from the American Medical Women’s Association.
Eva J. Neer ’59
Biochemist Neer transformed the field of cell biology and protein studies. She discovered a new class of G protein subunit, termed Go, which is one of the most abundant signaling proteins in brain chemistry. This discovery was critical in understanding how certain brain cells communicate and how the body reacts to prescription drugs and hormones.
She attended Barnard as an English major, while also taking pre-medical course requirements at Harvard Summer School. As a student at Columbia’s P&S, she researched the biochemistry of signaling cell proteins. In 1976, Neer became a biochemistry professor at Harvard, where she served on the Senior Advisory Committee on Women of Partners Healthcare, looking for solutions to remove the obstacles facing women in the medical field. Neer passed away in 2000.
Linda Laubenstein ’69
A decade after graduating from Barnard, the Manhattan physician was treating many of the country’s first HIV/AIDS patients. After seeing an increasing number of people succumb to a fatal shutdown of their immune system, she dedicated herself to treating those with this then-mysterious illness. Laubenstein also co-founded Multitasking, a nonprofit that provided office services and employed people living with AIDS who had been fired from their jobs after being diagnosed. In 1992, the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute established the Dr. Linda Laubenstein Annual HIV Clinical Excellence Award, which honors outstanding physicians who have provided compassionate, high-quality care for HIV/AIDS patients.
Jacqueline K. Barton ’74
Chemist and medical pioneer Barton changed how researchers think about DNA when one of her discoveries led to an improved understanding of aging and the creation of novel chemotherapeutics for diseases like cancer.
Currently the John G. Kirkwood and Arthur A. Noyes Professor in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Barton was the first woman to win the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry (1988). In 1991, she was a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Award” Foundation Fellowship. President Barack Obama presented her with the National Medal of Science in 2011.
