Ethel Ronzoni Bishop (b. August 21, 1890 – 1975) was an American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of "biological che ...

and

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

Early life and education

Ethel Ronzoni was born in California. She earned her BS degree from

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was r ...

in 1913, her Master's from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

in 1914, and her Ph.D. from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

in 1923.

Work

Ronzoni was an instructor of home economics at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded ...

from 1914 to 1917, and was assistant professor of Home Economics at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

for the 1917–18 academic year. Following her PhD, Bishop joined the

Washington University School of Medicine Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine has 1,260 students, 604 of which are pursuing a medical degree with ...

in 1923, where she worked as an assistant professor until 1943; she appears to be the first woman to have joined the School's academic faculty. While there, she ran the chemistry lab of the Department of Medicine and Barnes Hospital. In 1943 she was promoted to associate professor of biochemistry, a position she held until her retirement in 1959. After World War II, she switched to neuropsychiatry and ran the lab in the Department of Psychiatry. As a researcher, Bishop's main focus was

carbohydrate metabolism Carbohydrate metabolism is the whole of the biochemical processes responsible for the metabolic formation, breakdown, and interconversion of carbohydrates in living organisms. Carbohydrates are central to many essential metabolic pathways. Plan ...

. She also researched amino acid metabolism,

steroid hormones A steroid hormone is a steroid that acts as a hormone. Steroid hormones can be grouped into two classes: corticosteroids (typically made in the adrenal cortex, hence ''cortico-'') and sex steroids (typically made in the gonads or placenta). Wi ...

and muscle biochemistry.

Personal life

While attending the University of Wisconsin, Ronzoni met George Holman Bishop. Bishop also worked at Washington University. Ronzoni and Bishop lived in the historical

William Long Log House William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

; after the death of Ronzoni in 1975, the St. Louis County took over the home.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Ethel Ronzoni 1890 births 1975 deaths American women biochemists American physiologists Women physiologists Columbia University alumni Mills College alumni University of Missouri staff University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Washington University School of Medicine faculty 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American chemists