Brown, Rachel, 1898-1980

Chemist. M.A., University of Chicago, 1921; Ph. D., 1933.

Rachel Fuller Brown was born on November 23, 1898 in Springfield, Massachusetts to George Hamilton Brown and Annie Fuller Brown. After her father left the family when Brown was twelve, her mother worked as a secretary and director of religious education at various churches. Brown entered Mount Holyoke College in 1916 and graduated with an B.A. degree in history and chemistry in 1920. In 1921 she received an M.S. degree in organic chemistry from the University of Chicago. For the next three years Brown taught at the Frances Shimer School in Chicago, Illinois before returning to the University of Chicago to study for her Ph.D. She completed her doctoral research in 1926 and received her Ph.D. in organic chemistry and bacteriology in 1933. In 1926 Brown began her career as a research chemist at the New York State Division of Laboratories and Research in Albany, New York. In 1948 she began collaborating with Dr. Elizabeth Lee Hazen, a microbiologist, to isolate the first antifungal antibiotic for human use. In 1950 they announced the discovery of Nystatin, an antibiotic named for the New York State Laboratory where they worked. The patent process was completed in 1957 and handled by the Research Corporation, a private foundation that worked closely with Brown and Hazen to distribute about $13,000,000 in royalties over the following decades to fund scientific research. Among its other projects, the Brown-Hazen Fund financed grants and fellowships at Mount Holyoke College. Brown retired from the Division of Laboratories and Research in 1968. She was the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Squibb Award in Chemotherapy, honorary degrees from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Mount Holyoke College, and the Chemical Pioneer Award. She also taught Sunday school for many years at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Albany. Brown died on January 14, 1980 at the age of eighty-one in Albany.

Rachel Fuller Brown (1898-1980) began graduate study in chemistry at the University in 1920 after graduating from Mount Holyoke College. She received her M.A. in Chemistry in 1921 and, in 1926, after completing her course work for a doctorate, went to work for the New York State Department of Health's Laboratories and Research Division. Brown spent the next forty-three years there working and researching in the area of antibiotics. In 1933 she received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University.

Rachel Fuller Brown, a biochemist, and Elizabeth Lee Hazen, a microbiologist, were co-discoverers in 1950 of the drug nystatin, the first antibiotic administered to humans that safely and effectively treats serious fungal diseases. Both were employed by the Division of Laboratories and Research of the New York State Department of Health, Brown in Albany and Hazen in New York City. Brown and Hazen assigned patent royalties to the Research Corporation of New York, a non-profit foundation for the advancement of science. One-half the proceeds were designated for the general purposes of the Research Corporation, and one-half for the Brown-Hazen Fund. From 1957 to 1978 the Brown-Hazen Fund supported research and other programs in the biomedical sciences, especially in microbiology, immunology, biochemistry, and mycology; beginning in 1973, grants were restricted to work in mycology.