Irena Koprowska, née Grasberg (May 12, 1917, Warsaw - August 16, 2012, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania) was a Polish-born pathologist in the United States. In 1985, she won the Papanikolaou Award.[1]
Irena Koprowska (née Grasberg) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 12 May 1917 |
| Died | 16 August 2012 (aged 95) Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Citizenship | Poland, United States |
| Known for | Leader in the field of Cytopathology |
| Spouse | Hilary Koprowski (m. 1938; 2 children) |
| Awards | Papanikolaou Award(1985) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Cytopathology |
She was the first woman to be named a full professor at Hahnemann Medical College, now Drexel University College of Medicine.[2][3]
Life
editKoprowska was born in 1917 to Eugenia and Henryk Grasberg, the latter of which owned a flour mill in Warsaw, Poland. Growing up, she (like her father) did not identify as Jewish or Catholic, but instead as atheist. [4]
She graduated from Warsaw University Medical School, in 1939. Around this time, Grasberg married Hilary Koprowski, a virologist who discovered the first effective oral polio vaccine. But she and Hilary, a Jewish man, were forced to flee Poland as the Nazi army began its invasion of Warsaw. [5]
She worked as a pathologist in Rio de Janeiro. She studied with Georgios Papanikolaou, at Cornell University Medical College. From 1970 to 1987, she was a professor at Temple University School of Medicine .[1]
Koprowska was mentored by Dr. Georgios Papanikolaou the inventor of the "Pap smear", and went on to become a leader in the field of cytopathology.[6][2] Dr. Koprowska was a founding member of the Inter Society Council of Cytology, which became the American Society of Cytopathology.[2] Additionally, she co-authored, with Dr. George Papanicolaou, a case report of the earliest diagnosis of lung cancer by a sputum smear.[2]
Grasberg married Hilary Koprowski, a virologist who discovered the first effective oral polio vaccine.
References
edit- ^ a b "Irena G. Koprowska". 2014-07-14. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
- ^ a b c d "Dr. Irena Koprowska - Changing the Face of Medicine". NLM NIH.
- ^ Howell, Lydia Pleotis (2012-12-25). "Remembering my mentor, Dr. Irena Koprowska". Cancer Cytopathology. 120 (6): 417–418. doi:10.1002/cncy.21250001. ISSN 1934-662X.
- ^ Koprowska, Irena (1997). A Woman Wanders Through Life And Science. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-3178-8.
- ^ Pleiotis Howell, Lydia (December 2012). "Remembering My Mentor, Dr. Irena Koprowska". Cancer Cytopathology. 120 (6): 417–418. doi:10.1002/cncy.21250001. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ Koprowska I (1998). A Woman Wanders Through Life and Science. SUNY press. ISBN 9780791431771.
- Koprowska, I, A Woman Wanders Through Life and Science, SUNY series, Voices of Immigrant Women, SUNY press 1998
- Pleotis Howell, Lydia (2012). "Remembering My Mentor, Dr. Irena Koprowska". Cancer Cytopathology. 120 (6). Wiley: 417–418. doi:10.1002/cncy.21250001. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
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