Jewel Plummer Cobb *1924-2017

(Kopie 2)

Cell biologist and cancer researcher Jewel Plummer Cobb was born in Chicago in 1924. She was the granddaughter of a freed slave and grew up in an academic household. Despite the racial obstacles she faced during segregation, she pursued an academic career, earning a B.A. in biology from Talladega College in 1944, a master‘s degree in 1947, and a Ph.D. in cell physiology from New York University in 1950. She married in 1954, later divorced and raised her son as a single mother. She studied skin cancer, melanin’s protective effects, and the impact of hormones, UV light and chemotherapeutic drugs on cell division. As one of the pioneers in using tissue culture methods to study melanoma cells, she made significant discoveries about the disease, including methotrexate’s ability to inhibit cancer growth, a  cru cial finding for modern chemotherapy. Cobb was also a trailblazer for women and people of color in science, becoming the first Black dean at Connecticut Col-lege and the first Black woman to lead a research university as president of California State University in 1981. Throughout her career, she was an advocate for the advancement of women and minorities in science, mentoring young scientists, serving on numerous committees, and publishing influential works such as „Filters For Women in Science“ in 1979. Jewel Plummer Cobb passed away in 2017 at the age of 92.