Biologics Regulation and ResearchThe People and Work of Buildings 29 & 29A

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From 1974 until 1993, Kirschstein was the director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)–the first woman to be an institute director at NIH. As director of NIGMS, she worked tirelessly to expand the ranks of women and minorities in science at NIH and elsewhere. She did so in response to the discrimination she had experienced as a Jewish person and a female scientist and the discrimination against Black people she had seen in her years at Tulane. She was one of 10 women in her medical school class of 110 at Tulane. When she was a pathologist at the NIH, she had to fight for her promotions, being turned down twice for a promotion to the GS-15 salary. Because she was a married woman, the men in administrative roles didn’t feel that she needed the raise since her husband also worked. Kirschstein did not give up and received the promotion on her third try. She also fought for promotions for minority lab technicians such as George Rusten. Kirschstein was a champion of minorities in the sciences throughout her career but especially when she led NIGMS. She received an award from the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools in 1988 at a ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia. She also received the Geraldine P. Woods Award in 2002 that acknowledged her leadership, dedication, and commitment to the research training of minorities while at the head of NIGMS and NIH.

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Dr. Kirschstein's Own Reflections

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