Bursztyn-Pettegrew, Hela, b. 1929.

Bacteriologist. Hela Bursztyn-Pettegrew was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1929 and became a citizen of Colombia in 1936. She received her Degree (1950) in Bacteriology from the Javeriana University in Bogota, Colombia. Her thesis was "Inoculation of Rabies Virus in Chick Embryo and Its Utilization as Immunity Power" and she completed post-graduate work (1955-1956)in Immunology and Biochemistry at Michigan State University.

Bursztyn-Pettegrew was employed at Syntex Research in their Department of Molecular Biology from 1980 through 1992. Her previous work experience includes stints at Columbia University, the Institute of Cardiology (Mexico), the Suisse Institute of Cancer, the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), U.C.L.A., and Stanford University.