Andromachi Papanikolaou

Andromachi "Mary" Mavrogeni Papanikolaou[note 1] was a Greek laboratory technician and the wife of Georgios Papanikolaou, the Greek pathologist who independently invented the pap test. For 21 years, Mary Papanikolaou volunteered to have her cervix sampled and smeared by her husband to help with his efforts to create the pap test, which has been shown to reduce cervical cancer deaths by up to 80 percent.[1][2]

Early life

Born Andromachi Mavrogeni, Papanikolaou was the descendant of the Phanariote Mavrogenis family, which made history fighting against the Ottomans in the Greek War of Independence. She received a good education, could speak French and play piano. She met her husband Georgios on a ferry boat journey to Athens, and he fell in love with her charming personality.[3] Papanikolaou eloped with her husband shortly after he obtained his PhD in zoology at the University of Munich in 1910. After returning to Greece following the death of Georgios' mother, the couple emigrated to New York City on October 9, 1913.[4] Neither Papanikolaou or her husband spoke English, and they had between them only $250, the amount then required to enter the U.S. Papanikolaou took a job at Gimbel's Department Store as a seamstress, sewing buttons for $5 per week. Her husband took a series of odd jobs before obtaining a position at New York University's Pathology Department and Cornell University Medical College's Anatomy Department, where Papanikolaou joined him as an unpaid technician.[4] [5]

Contribution to research

Throughout her husband's career, Papanikolaou managed both his laboratory affairs and the couple's household affairs. At Cornell, Georgios was observing the ovulatory cycle of guinea pigs, but because he was not a clinician, he lacked access to patients. For 21 years, Mary Papanikolaou volunteered as an experimental subject for her husband, climbing up on to his examination couch every day so that he could sample and smear her cervix.[6] She was quoted as saying: "There was no other option but for me to follow him inside the lab, making his way of life mine" and also decided not to have children so she could continue collaborating with her husband.[7]

Partly through his wife's volunteer efforts, Georgios was able to determine that the monthly changes to guinea pig vaginal discharge that he observed in the lab could also be seen in humans. To provide additional subjects for her husband's research, Mary Papanikolaou also held a party for some female friends, who agreed to have their own cervixes sampled.[8] After one of these women was later diagnosed with cervical cancer, Georgios took her sample back to the lab and, with the help of another cytologist, determined that cancerous cells were indeed visible on the sample. In Georgios' own words: “The first observation of cancer cells in the smear of the uterine cervix gave me one of the greatest thrills I ever experienced during my scientific career.”[9]

The Pap test is still widely used as a means of early cancer detection, and is estimated to have reduced fatalities caused by cancer of the reproductive systems in women by half.[10] By some accounts, the pap test is considered the most significant advance in the control of cancer in the 20th century.[11]

Death

Mary Papanikolaou continued her husband's work at the Papanicolaou Cancer Research Institute after his death on February 19, 1962. She died in Miami in October, 1982.

Notes
  1. Her name is transcribed differently in various sources; her first name is written as either Andromahi, Andromachi or Andromache, her maiden name as Mavroyeni, Mavrogeni, Mavrogenis or Mavrogenous, and her last name as Papanikolaou or Papanicolaou.
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References
  1. Arbyn, M.; Anttila, A.; Jordan, J.; Ronco, G.; Schenck, U.; Segnan, N.; Wiener, H.; Herbert, A.; von Karsa, L. (March 2010). "European Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Cervical Cancer Screening. Second Edition—Summary Document". Annals of Oncology. 21 (3): 448–458. doi:10.1093/annonc/mdp471. ISSN 0923-7534. PMC 2826099. PMID 20176693.
  2. Nikolaos Chatziantoniou (November–December 2014). "Lady Andromache (Mary) Papanicolaou: The Soul of Gynecological Cytopathology". Journal of the American Society of Cytopathology. 3 (6). pp. 319–326. doi:10.1016/j.jasc.2014.08.004. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  3. "Georgios Nikolaou Papanikolaou: Person, pictures and information - Fold3.com". Fold3. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  4. Tan, Siang Yong; Tatsumura, Yvonne (October 2015). "George Papanicolaou (1883–1962): Discoverer of the Pap smear". Singapore Medical Journal. 56 (10): 586–587. doi:10.11622/smedj.2015155. ISSN 0037-5675. PMC 4613936. PMID 26512152.
  5. "Georgios Nikolaou Papanikolaou: Person, pictures and information - Fold3.com". Fold3. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  6. Crazedturkey (2012-08-08). "Medical History: Mrs. Papanicolaou". Medical History. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  7. "GREECE IS | HEALTH | 2017-2018". Issuu. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  8. "Georgios Papanikolaou: Papa of the Pap Smear". HowStuffWorks. 2019-05-13. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  9. Petrovchich, Iva (2019-04-30). "The Hilarious and Compelling Origins of the Pap Smear". synapse.ucsf.edu. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  10. EDT, Ewan Palmer On 5/13/19 at 3:46 AM (2019-05-13). "Who was Georgios Papanikolaou? Pap Smear pioneer celebrated in Google Doodle". Newsweek. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  11. Vilos, George A. (March 1998). "The history of the Papanicolaou smear and the odyssey of George and Andromache Papanicolaou". Obstetrics & Gynecology. 91 (3): 479–483. doi:10.1016/s0029-7844(97)00695-9. ISSN 0029-7844. PMID 9491881.
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