Rhoda Williams Benham
Rhoda Williams Benham (born 1894) is an American mycologist, a pioneer of the field of medical mycology.[1]
Rhoda Williams Benham | |
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Born | December 5th 1894 Cedarhurst, New York, United States |
Died | January 17th 1957 |
Nationality | United States |
Alma mater | Barnard College |
Scientific career | |
Fields | mycology; botany |
Education and career
Rhoda Williams Benham graduated in 1917 with B.S. in Botany from Barnard College and in 1919 with M.S. in Biology from the Columbia University. She graduated in 1931 with Ph.D. in botany from Columbia University with the thesis "Certain Monilias Parasitic on Man, their Identification by Morphology and by Aggluti.[1]
Benham published widely on fungal taxonomy, pathogenicity, and nutrition. At Columbia University, she directed the first medical mycology research lab in the country, and taught the nation's first medical mycology course in 1935.[1]
Awards and Honors
The Medical Mycological Society of the Americas awards an annual prize for outstanding contributions to the field of medical mycology. [2] The fungusTrichophyton benhamiae was named in her honor.
References
- Silva, Margarita; Hazen, Elizabeth L. (1957). "Rhoda Williams Benham: 1894-1957". Mycologia. 49 (4): 596-603. doi:10.1080/00275514.1957.12024672.
- "Rhoda Benham Awardees". Medical Mycological Society of the Americas. 1 June 2020.