Grace Medes

Grace Medes
Born	November 9, 1886 Keokuk, Iowa
Died	December 31, 1967 (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

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.

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 taught at Vassar College (she was the first female faculty member with a PhD in the Physiology department there^[3]) and Wellesley College, before moving to the University of Minnesota Medical School as an assistant professor. In her time at Minnesota, she 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, she 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]

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] Medes retired from the research institute in 1956, but picked up her work on tyrosinosis again in retirement, working at 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.