Judith Lesnaw is an American virologist, photographer, and inductee of the University of Kentucky's Hall of Fame. She was the first woman hired into

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, the first woman to be

tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

d, and the first molecular biologist at the University of Kentucky.

Early life and education

Lesnaw was born in Chicago, Illinois and received her Associate of Arts from

Wright Junior College Wilbur Wright College, formerly known as Wright Junior College, is a public community college in Chicago. Part of the City Colleges of Chicago system, it offers two-year associate's degrees, as well as occupational training in IT, manufacturing, ...

. She then went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in

Microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...

and a doctorate in Biology (1969) with a focus in Virology, and postdoctoral studies at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

Research and career

Lesnaw began working and researching at the University of Kentucky in 1974, where she became known as the "Virus Master" by her students. She particularly focused on viral proteins in order to develop

gene therapy Gene therapy is a 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 human DN ...

agents. She was also a member of the NIH Medical Biochemistry Study Section and co-program leader in the Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky. She currently is professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky.

Personal life

After retiring in 2010, Lesnaw moved to

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

to focus on photography, early music, and poetry. She had 11 photographs that qualified for the 2017 Projected Image-of-the-Year Awards as presented by the Delaware Photographic Society.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Kentucky women chemists Kentucky women artists University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni University of Kentucky faculty American virologists Women virologists American women chemists 20th-century American chemists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American chemists 21st-century American women scientists Scientists from Chicago American women photographers 21st-century American photographers 21st-century American women artists Artists from Chicago Photographers from Illinois Photographers from Delaware Artists from Wilmington, Delaware American women academics {{US-photographer-stub