Judith Vaitukaitis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)
- endocrinology and metabolism
Judith Vaitukaitis | |
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 Vaitukaitis in 2005 | |
| Born | 1940 (age 85–86) Hartford, Connecticut |
| Alma mater | Tufts University |
| Known for | Development of the home pregnancy test |
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Judith L. Vaitukaitis (August 29, 1940 – October 19, 2018) was a reproductive neuroendocrinologist and clinical researcher who played a key role in developing a biochemical assay in the early 1970s that ultimately led to the creation of the home pregnancy test.[1] She served for 12 years as director of the US National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).[2]
Vaitukaitis was born in Hartford, Connecticut,[3] and received a B.S. degree in chemistry and biology from Tufts University in 1962.[2] She earned her M.D. degree in 1966 from Boston University School of Medicine.[2] She completed her residency at Cornell Medical Services, Bellevue Memorial Hospital, New York.[2]
In 1970, Vaitukaitis came to NIH as a postdoctoral researcher with the intention of studying human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG),[4] a reproductive hormone that's also secreted by certain malignant tumors. She worked first at NIH's National Cancer Institute and then continued her postdoctoral training in the reproduction research branch of NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), first as a special research fellow of the U.S. Public Health Service and then as a senior staff fellow.[5]
During that time, Vaitukaitis worked with another NIH postdoc, Glenn Braunstein, to find accurate techniques to detect elevated levels of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) in the body, as a method for diagnosing cancer.[6] Because hCG is normally secreted during pregnancy as well, the researchers recognized that a sensitive hCG assay might also be able to detect pregnancy at an early stage.[7] In 1972, Vaitukaitis, Braunstein, and their mentor Griff Ross published a landmark paper that described a new assay for detecting hCG.[8] Their method, far more sensitive than existing hCG tests, became the basis for the first home pregnancy tests, which hit the market in 1978.[9]
After advancing to become one of the first female senior investigators at NICHD, Vaitukaitis left NIH in 1974 and returned to Boston University School of Medicine.[10]
