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Margaret J. Pittman, Ph.D.
(1901-1995)

Dr. Margaret Pittman was the first female laboratory chief at the NIH. In 1957 she became the chief of the Laboratory of Bacterial Products.

Margaret Pittman grew up in Prairie Grove, Arkansas and credited her interest in science to her physician father. She graduated magna cum laude in 1923 from Hendrix College (Arkansas), majoring in mathematics and biology.

Dr. Pittman taught at Galloway College (Atlanta) and then attended the University of Chicago for a masters and Ph.D. in bacteriology.

In 1928 Dr. Pittman began working at the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research (New York) with Dr. Rufus Cole on whether Hemophilus influenza caused influenza (it does not). Developing a vaccine against meningitis caused by a strain of H. influenza earned her an international scientific reputation before the age of 30.

She joined the NIH Division of Biologics Control (later the Division of Biologics Standards [DBS]) in 1936, with her mentor Dr. Sara E. Branham; they were both part of a group of women bacteriologists who studied at University of Chicago. They worked to develop standards for the meningococcal antiserum.

Image missing: Stand in used here

Dr. Pittman and Dr. Sadie L. Carlin reading an agglutination reaction, part of the test for potency of anti-meningitis serum (1937) Photo Credit: National Museum of American History (need to confirm usage is ok).
During World War II, Dr. Pittman investigated the safety of blood and blood products, discovering and eliminating the cause of fever and death from plasma infusions.

In 1944 she developed a new assay to test the potency of the pertussis vaccine, under the direction of Dr. Milton Veldee, Director of the Biologics Control Laboratory at the time.

After World War II, Dr. Pittman continued to work with other bacterial vaccines, including cholera, where she worked with the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). She was also instrumental in assessing the efficacy of and establish national and international standards for the production of the yellow fever vaccine and the typhoid vaccine.

Dr. Pittman was the first female Laboratory Chief at NIH beginning in 1957 until her retirement in 1971. How did I forget to add this?

She worked in Biologics until her retirement in 1971 (in Building 29, Fourth Floor from 1960 to 1971) and continued on in guest work at NIH until 1993.

Publications:

In Her Own Words:

More Resources


North American Vaccine Inc., Diphtheria & Tetanus Toxoids & Acellular Pertussis Vaccine based on Dr. Pittman’s theoretical work

Dr. Pittman’s Reference Card Files. Her system from her student days through the mid-1970s to keep track of reference papers by subject. Some cards have her summaries of the paper attached.
All objects in the Collection of Office of NIH History & Stetten Museum

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