HISTORY MINUTE

Dr. Margaret Pittman was one of the great scientific minds of the past century. While she helped create vaccines for three diseases that once left millions dead in their wakes, the Arkansan accomplished much more.

She had risen steadily from her roots in Washington County to becoming a school teacher, principal, and eventually acclaimed research biologist. She started working at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, DC, in 1936, in what she later called “a golden opportunity.” At the time, she was one of only a handful of women working as research scientists for the federal government.

In addition to her work on vaccines, one of her most important breakthroughs emerged during World War II. Wounded soldiers often showed signs of infections after blood plasma infusions, infections tied to the infusions. Pittman inspected the storage and processing procedures used and quickly devised a new strategy with other NIH scientists. Soon, they established new tests and new lab standards to ensure the safety of the plasma given to the wounded. Post-operative recovery rates improved dramatically as a result. Pittman noted in a later interview that this led directly to test samples being taken at the time of blood donation and modern tests for HIV or hepatitis contamination from donated blood.

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