Brigid Gray Leventhal (August 31, 1935 – February 6, 1994) was a British-American pediatric oncologist. She was the first director of the Pediatric Oncology Division at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

, a position she held from 1976 to 1984. She was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.

Early life

Leventhal was born Brigid Gray in 1935 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Her family migrated to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1940 to escape

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

. After graduating from

Hollywood High School Hollywood High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. Histo ...

in 1950, she studied for a year at a Swiss boarding school before enrolling at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. She graduated in psychology from UCLA in 1955 and began to study medicine there before transferring to

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

. When she graduated from Harvard in 1960, she was one of only six women in her graduating class.

Career

After completing medical school, Leventhal was an intern and pediatric resident at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

. She served as a resident at Boston City Hospital for one year and completed a one-year fellowship in

hematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center. In 1964, she moved to

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

, to work at the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

. At the NCI, she sat on the

Recombinant DNA Recombinant DNA (rDNA) molecules are DNA molecules formed by laboratory methods of genetic recombination (such as molecular cloning) that bring together genetic material from multiple sources, creating sequences that would not otherwise be foun ...

Advisory Committee and a subcommittee on

human gene therapy Gene therapy is a Medicine, medical field which focuses on the genetic modification of cells to produce a therapeutic effect or the treatment of disease by repairing or reconstructing defective genetic material. The first attempt at modifying ...

; she headed the

Chemoimmunotherapy Chemoimmunotherapy is chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy. Chemotherapy uses different drugs to kill or slow the growth of cancer cells; immunotherapy uses treatments to stimulate or restore the ability of the immune system to fight cancer. A ...

Section from 1973 to 1976. Leventhal was hired by

in 1976 as a professor of pediatrics and oncology and the first director of Johns Hopkins' Pediatric Oncology Division. While developing new treatments for childhood cancers, she established the inpatient unit and outpatient clinics for pediatric oncology patients. She stepped down as head of the Pediatric Oncology Division in 1984. During her career, Leventhal published 135 research papers, 52 book chapters, and a textbook titled ''Research Methods in Clinical Oncology''. Leventhal died of cancer in 1994 in

Columbia, Maryland Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland. It is one of the principal communities of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. Columbia began with ...

Honors

Leventhal received the Federal Women's Award in 1974 and was named Outstanding Career Woman in 1979 by the National Council of Women. In 1992, Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke designated July 29 as Brigid G. Leventhal Day in Baltimore. Leventhal was posthumously inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leventhal, Brigid 1935 births 1994 deaths American pediatricians Women pediatricians American oncologists Women oncologists Johns Hopkins University faculty National Institutes of Health faculty British emigrants to the United States Massachusetts General Hospital residents Harvard Medical School alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni Deaths from cancer in Maryland Physicians from Maryland Physicians from Massachusetts