Eleanor Christides Zaimis (16 June 1915 – 3 October 1982) was a Greek-British academic who was professor at
Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine
UCL Medical School is the medical school of University College London (UCL) and is located in London, United Kingdom. The School provides a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programmes and also has a medical educati ...
, often referred to as "Nora".
[British Medical Journal obituary](_blank)
/ref> She was the recipient of the 1959 Gairdner Foundation International Award
The Canada Gairdner International Award is given annually by the Gairdner Foundation at a special dinner to five individuals for outstanding discoveries or contributions to medical science. Receipt of the Gairdner is traditionally considered a p ...
for study of methonium compounds and other pharmacology
Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...
contributions.
Zaimis was elected to the British Pharmacological Society Hall of Fame.[
]
Early life and education
Zaimis was born in Galați, Romania. Her father, John Cristides worked in shipping and her mother, Helen Hanoutsos was the daughter of a landowner. She was educated at the Greek Gymnasium and graduated in medicine at the University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
in 1938. During the next nine years, she gained an MD and a BSc in Chemistry.
Career
After graduating in medicine, she was an assistant to the professor of pharmacology at the University of Athens and she from 1945 she served on a committee for evaluating new antibiotics such as penicillin and streptomycin
Streptomycin is an antibiotic medication used to treat a number of bacterial infections, including tuberculosis, ''Mycobacterium avium'' complex, endocarditis, brucellosis, ''Burkholderia'' infection, plague, tularemia, and rat bite fever. Fo ...
. In 1947, she went to England as a British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
scholar where she initially worked in the department of pharmacology at Bristol University
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
and later at the National Institute for Medical Research
The National Institute for Medical Research (commonly abbreviated to NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC);
In 2016, the NIMR b ...
, she then moved to the department of pharmacology at the school of pharmacy, University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
.[
In 1950, she was elected as an associate to the ]Physiological Society
The Physiological Society, founded in 1876, is a learned society for physiologists in the United Kingdom.
History
The Physiological Society was founded in 1876 as a dining society "for mutual benefit and protection" by a group of 19 physiologist ...
and eventually, became a full member in 1951. In 1954, she was appointed as a reader and head of the pharmacology department at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine. In 1956, she was awarded the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh
The Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh is awarded by the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine to a person who has made any highly important and valuable addition to Practical Therapeutics in the previous five ye ...
.[ She was awarded a professorship by the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in 1958 and she remained head of the department until her retirement in 1980. During this time, she made significant contributions to the fields of neuromuscular and cardiovascular pharmacology.
In 1958, she received the Gairdner Foundation international award.][ In 1962, she was awarded the Cross of Commander of the Greek Order of Benevolence and in 1968, she received the NP Kravkov pharmacology medal from the ]USSR Academy of Medical Sciences The USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (russian: Акаде́мия медици́нских нау́к СССР) was the highest scientific and medical organization founded in the Soviet Union founded in 1944.
Its successor is the Russian Academy of ...
. Between 1967 and 1971, she was on the committee of the Physiological Society
The Physiological Society, founded in 1876, is a learned society for physiologists in the United Kingdom.
History
The Physiological Society was founded in 1876 as a dining society "for mutual benefit and protection" by a group of 19 physiologist ...
. She was made a honorary member of the Rome Academy of Medicine and a corresponding member of the Academy of Athens.
Her outstanding worked (with William Paton) was on methonium compounds and synthesized the remaining members of what is referred to as ''the methonium series,'' including compounds such as hexamethonium
Hexamethonium is a non-depolarising ganglionic blocker, a nicotinic ( nAChR) receptor antagonist that acts in autonomic ganglia by binding mostly in or on the nAChR receptor, and not the acetylcholine binding site itself. It does not have a ...
and decamethonium
Decamethonium (Syncurine) is a depolarizing muscle relaxant or neuromuscular blocking agent, and is used in anesthesia to induce paralysis.
Pharmacology
Decamethonium, which has a short action time, is similar to acetylcholine and acts as a p ...
. Both of these compounds are important in medicine, the first is used for hypertension and the second is used by anaesthetists to control muscles.[ She was one of the first scientists to realize the importance of researching the chronic effect of minimal drug use, as well as the acute effect.]
Death and legacy
She died in 1982 and she was elected to the British Pharmacological Society Hall of Fame in 2015.
Publications
* ''Textbook on Hygiene'', 1948
* ''Evaluation of new drugs in man'', 1963
*''Nerve growth factor and its antiserum'', 1972
*''Neuromuscular junction'', 1976
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaimis, Eleanor
1915 births
1982 deaths
Romanian emigrants to Greece
Greek emigrants to the United Kingdom
British pharmacologists
British women scientists