Margaret Gladys Smith
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(aged 74)Margaret Gladys Smith | |
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| Born | February 10, 1896 Carnegie, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | May 1, 1970 (aged 74) Webster Groves, Missouri, U.S. |
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| Occupation | Pathologist |
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Margaret Gladys Smith (10 February 1896 – 1 May 1970)[1] was a pathologist who spent over forty years working at the Washington University School of Medicine. Perhaps best known for her work with the St. Louis encephalitis virus, she has also been referred to as a founder of pediatric pathology[2] and the "mother of cytomegalovirus."[3]
Margaret Gladys was born in 1896 in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of machine shop foreman William Smith.[1]
Smith earned an A.B. degree in chemistry from Mount Holyoke College in 1918. She chose medical school over graduate study in chemistry and entered the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, one of the few medical schools open to women at the time. After graduating in 1922, she worked for Johns Hopkins University as a pathology assistant, then instructor and pathology associate. Her specialization was influenced by the 1918 influenza epidemic; she recalled seeing stacks of pine coffins outside the morgue at Johns Hopkins. She also recalled a handsome pathology assistant: "I had a foolish crush on him but from that personal interest came my first interest in pathology that fortunately was more enduring that the crush."[1][4][5]