Grace Medes

Grace Medes (November 9, 1886 – December 31, 1967) was an American biochemist, who discovered tyrosinosis—a metabolic disorder today known as tyrosinemia—and studied fatty acid metabolism. She was awarded the Garvan-Olin Medal in 1955 for her work.

Grace Medes
Born	November 9, 1886 Keokuk, Iowa
Died	December 31, 1967(1967-12-31) (aged 81)
Awards	Garvan-Olin Medal
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Kansas Bryn Mawr College
Academic work
Institutions	Vassar College Wellesley College University of Minnesota Medical School Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
Main interests	biochemistry
Notable ideas	tyrosinosis

Early life and education

Grace May Medes was born in Keokuk, Iowa, daughter of William Johnson Medes and Kate Francisco Hagny Medes.[1] She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Kansas, both in zoology, and a PhD at Bryn Mawr College in 1916.[2]

Career

After earning her PhD, Medes went to teach at Vassar College in 1916 serving first as an instructor in zoology until 1919 and then as an assistant professor of physiology until 1922. She was the first female faculty member with a PhD in the Physiology department at Vassar.[3] Medes moved to Wellesley College in 1922, where she served as associate professor of physiology until 1924. In 1924 she went to University of Minnesota Medical School where she served as a fellow for her first year and then an assistant professor until 1932.

In her time at Minnesota, Medes discovered the human metabolic disorder she named "tyrosinosis" in 1932. Although her patient was atypical and the mechanism she identified has since been questioned, her testing methods remain a useful model for researchers studying the disorder now known as tyrosinemia.[4][5][6]

In 1932, Medes became head of the department of metabolic chemistry at the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she specialized in the metabolism of sulfur and fatty acids. Her work established a basis for the later discovery of Coenzyme A.[7] She would remain at the institute (later merged with the Institute for Cancer Research) as a research faculty member until 1952. She was a senior member from 1954 to 1960.

In 1955, Medes won the Garvan Medal (now the Garvan-Olin Medal) from the American Chemical Society as an outstanding woman in chemistry.[8] Also in 1955, Medes was one of the year's five distinguished alumni by the University of Kansas.[9]

While in retirement, Medes resumed her work on tyrosinosis, which she put aside while at Lankenau, at the Fels Research Institute at Temple University. She co-authored a book, Normal Growth and Cancer (1963) with colleague Stanley P. Reimann.[10][11]

A symposium on tyrosinosis was held in Oslo, Norway in her honor in 1965.[12]

Personal life

Medes died on New Year's Eve in 1967. She was 81 years old.[13]

References

1. Ray Garrison, "Former Keokuk Scientist Has Key Role in Cancer War" Keokuk Daily Gate City (February 19, 1959): 7. via Newspaperarchive.com
2. Marilyn Ogilvie and Joy Harvey, eds., The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science (Routledge 2003): 874-875. ISBN 978-1-135-96343-9
3. Toby A. Appel, "Physiology in American Women's Colleges: The Rise and Decline of a Female Subculture" Isis 85(1)(March 1994): 40, note 34.
4. Teruo Kitagawa, "Hepatorenal Tyrosinemia" Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences 88(5)(May 2012): 192-200. doi: 10.2183/pjab.88.192
5. L. I. Wolff, "Phenylalanine and Tyrosine Metabolism" Advances in Clinical Chemistry 6(Academic Press 1963): 174-176. ISBN 978-0-08-056604-7
6. Guoyao Wu, Amino Acids: Biochemistry and Nutrition (CRC Press 2013): 82-83. ISBN 978-1-4398-6190-5
7. Marilyn Ogilvie and Joy Harvey, eds., The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science (Routledge 2003): 874-875. ISBN 978-1-135-96343-9
8. American Chemical Society, Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal, list of awardees.
9. "Former Salinan, Logan Woman to be Honored" Salina Journal (May 6, 1955): 16. via Newspapers.com
10. Hugh J. Creech, "Obituary: Stanley Philip Reimann" Cancer Research 28(1968): 807-809.
11. Ray Garrison, "Keokuk Born Woman Co-author of a New Treatise on Cancer" Keokuk Daily Gate City (August 26, 1963): 9. via Newspaperarchive.com
12. L. R. Gjessing, ed., Symposium on Tyrosinosis in Honor of Dr. Grace Medes, 2–3 June 1965 (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget 1966).
13. "Recent Deaths" Science 159(3812)(January 12, 1968): 290.

Further reading

• Notable women in the physical sciences : a biographical dictionary. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1997. 1997. OCLC 433367323.