Draft:Gertrude Henle

Gertrude Henle (April 3, 1912-September 1, 2006) was an American virologist born in Mannheim, Germany. Not much is known about Henle's upbringing and childhood, and no records seem to date back further than when she attended medical school. In 1936, she earned her medical degree from the University of Heidelberg. During her time at Heidelberg, she met Dr. Werner Henle. Together, the two moved to Pennsylvania in 1937 where they married and joined the Microbiology Department of the University of Pennsylvania.

Career

In 1941, Gerturde Henle, along with her husband Werner Henle, became an associate professor of virology at the University of Pennsylvania and began researching at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. That same year, Dr. Henle was promoted to instructor in bacteriology at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1943, Henle and her husband studied and showed the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine, ultimately saving countless lives in the future. Additionally, the Henles created a rapid test to diagnose mumps and conducted research where they tested the mumps vaccine. The Henles also worked alongside Dr. Joseph Stokes to show that gamma globulin can be used to inhibit the development of infectious hepatitis. In 1951, Henle was promoted to assistant professor of virology at the University of Pennsylvania. She then became a full professor in 1965. Perhaps Henle's most famous contribution to science was her research on Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), in which she and her husband first showed that the virus was linked to mononucleosis. Later, they showed that EBV can cause two types of cancer: Hodgkin lymphoma (also known as Hodgkin's Disease) and Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. These three connections to EBV that she and her husband discovered were groundbreaking because they showed that viruses have the ability to turn healthy cells into malignant ones. One of the most important aspects of her research on viral infections was that it laid the foundation for scientists to discover interferon. According to the National Cancer Institute, interferon is "a natural substance that helps the body's immune system fight infection and other diseases, such as cancer." Interferons are naturally made by white blood cells, but scientists discovered that interferons can be made in labs to treat certain diseases. In cancer treatment specifically, interferons can help stop the spread of and kill cancer cells. In 1979, Henle was elected into the National Academy of Sciences (one of only a few women at the time). Henle and her husband retired from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982, but they continued their research at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia until 1987.

In Later Years

Henle and her husband received numerous awards, including the Mead Johnson Award for Research in Pediatrics, the Virus Cancer Program Award of the National Cancer Institute, the Bristol-Myers Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Research, the Robert Koch Medaille (awarded by the German government), and the Gold Medal of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The National Library of Medicine, a part of the National Institutes of Health, called the Henles "a prodigious force in virology, immunology and viral oncology during the second half of the twentieth century." Her husband, Dr. Werner Henle, passed away in 1987, and Henle herself passed away in 2006. She has no surviving relatives. Gertrude Henle contributed enormously to the world of science and the greater good of humanity, and her life is one to be remembered and celebrated.