Sarah Stewart

Sarah Elizabeth Stewart (August 16, 1905 – November 27, 1976) was a Mexican-American researcher who pioneered the field of viral oncology research, and the first to show that cancer-causing viruses can spread from animal to animal. She and Bernice Eddy co-discovered the first polyoma virus, and SE (Stewart-Eddy) polyoma virus is named after them. Personal life and education Early life Sarah Elizabeth Stewart was born on August 16, 1905, in Tecalitlán, Jalisco, Mexico, to a Native Mexican mother and an American mining engineer father. Due to the Mexican Revolution, she and her family were asked to leave the country in 1911, forcing them to migrate to the United States. Stewart would continue to speak Spanish fluently throughout her lifetime. Stewart and her family lived in Cottage Grove, Oregon, where she completed her lower education. Education In 1927, she graduated with a Bachelors of Science and a degree in economics from New Mexico State University. She went on to earn a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1930 and a Ph.D in microbiology from the University of Chicago in 1939. Stewart worked as a professor of bacteriology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, which allowed her to take medical courses for free until women were allowed to formally enroll in the medical school in 1947. In 1949 at the age of 43, she became the first woman to be awarded an MD Degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine.