Stewart, Sarah E. (Sarah Elizabeth), 1905-1976

Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Stewart (b. Aug. 16, 1905, Tecalitlán, Jalisco, Mexico–d. Nov. 27, 1976, New Smyrna Beach, FL) was a Mexican-American researcher who pioneered the field of viral oncology research. She earned her BS at New Mexico State University (1927), her MS at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (1930), her PhD at the University of Chicago (1939), and the first woman to receive a MD from Georgetown University (1949). She began her career at the National Institutes of Health in 1935 and returned after medical school to the National Cancer Institute in 1951, becoming Medical Director and Head of the Leukemia Studies Section. She worked with Dr. Bernice Eddy to isolate and propagate the polyoma virus; in 1958 they were successful in growing the virus which now bears their names, the SE (Stewart-Eddy) polyomavirus.

Twice nominated for the Nobel Prize, Stewart was presented the Federal Women’s Award by Pres. Lyndon Johnson in 1965. She left the NIH in 1971 to teach at Georgetown University. She passed away of cancer in 1976.