Judith Graham Pool
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Judith Ethel Graham Pool (June 1, 1919 — July 13, 1975) was an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...
. She is best known for the discovery of cryoprecipitation, a process for creating concentrated
blood clotting Coagulation, also known as clotting, is the process by which blood changes from a liquid to a gel, forming a blood clot. It potentially results in hemostasis, the cessation of blood loss from a damaged vessel, followed by repair. The mechanism o ...
factors which significantly improved the quality of life for
hemophiliacs Haemophilia, or hemophilia (), is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This results in people bleeding for a longer time after an injury, easy bruising, ...
around the world.


Background

Judith Graham was born in
Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...
into a Jewish family. Her mother was a school teacher and her father was a stockbroker. She married
Ithiel de Sola Pool Ithiel de Sola Pool (October 26, 1917 – March 11, 1984) was an American academic who was a widely celebrated and often controversial figure in the field of social sciences and information technology. He did significant research on technology an ...
, a political scientist, in her junior year. She left her graduate program when she gave birth to her two sons, Jonathan Robert and Jeremy David Pool, in the 1940s. The couple divorced in the 1950s. She moved to
Oslo, Norway Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of i ...
in 1958—1959. She had a daughter twenty years after the birth of her second son, and married Maurice Sokolow, professor of medicine and
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 ...
. Their marriage ended after three years. Judith Pool died at age 56, from a
brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...
.


Education

Pool studied
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, then went on to graduate work and served as an assistant in her department. She taught physics at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y., while writing her dissertation on the
electrophysiology Electrophysiology (from Greek , ''ēlektron'', "amber" etymology of "electron"">Electron#Etymology">etymology of "electron" , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , '' -logia'') is the branch of physiology that studies the electrical properties of b ...
of muscle fibers. She finally completed her degree in 1946, produced a remarkable study of the electropotential of a single isolated muscle fiber. After her doctoral degree, she moved to California with her family and obtained a research position at the
Stanford Research Institute SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic d ...
. In 1953, she began to do blood coagulation studies at the Stanford School of Medicine as a research fellow supported by a Bank of America-Giannini Foundation grant. She went to Oslo, Norway, on a
Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
research fellowship.


Career

She was a
Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
senior research associate from 1956 to 1970, then advanced to senior scientist in 1970. In 1972, she was promoted to full professor with a high professorial rank. She also gave lectures, such as the Paul M. Aggeler Memorial Lecture in 1974, at several institutions and congresses. She was a member of the national scientific advisory committees of the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
and the
American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...
Blood Program, the Advisory Committee of the National Blood Resource Program, the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee of the
National Hemophilia Foundation The National Bleeding Disorders Foundation (NBDF) is a United States patient advocacy organization for the care and treatment of inheritable blood and bleeding disorders such as hemophilia and von Willebrand disease Von Willebrand disease ( ...
, the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee of the World Federation of Hemophilia, and the editorial boards of Transfusion and the American Journal of Hematology. In her last year, she spent most of her time and effort on advocacy of greater opportunities for
women in science The presence of women in science spans the earliest times of the history of science wherein they have made significant contributions. Historians with an interest in gender and science have researched the scientific endeavors and accomplishments ...
nationally. She founded and chaired the Professional Women of Stanford University Medical School organization, was a founding member and co-president (along with
Neena Schwartz Neena Betty Schwartz (December 10, 1926 – April 15, 2018) was an American endocrinologist and William Deering Professor of Endocrinology Emerita in the Department of Neurobiology at Northwestern University. She was best known for her work on ...
) of the
Association for Women in Science The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) was founded in 1971 at the annual Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) meeting. The organization aims to combat job discrimination, lower pay, and professional isolation. The ...
in 1971, and was a member of the AWIS steering committee from 1972 to 1973.


Contribution

Pool's work on blood coagulation resulted in the development of a cold-insoluble protein fraction of blood plasma, cryoprecipitate, which contains an hemophilic factor (AHF) soon to be used widely in
blood banks A blood bank is a center where blood gathered as a result of blood donation is stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a department of a hospital usually within a Clinical Pathology laborat ...
. She received awards for this discovery. Pool's major observation was that
factor VIII Factor VIII (FVIII) is an essential blood-clotting protein, also known as anti-hemophilic factor (AHF). In humans, factor VIII is encoded by the ''F8'' gene. Defects in this gene result in hemophilia A, a recessive X-linked coagulation disorder. ...
can be simply and cheaply prepared from human plasma, and can be easily and safely given to hemophilic patients. The material can be used to terminate bleeding in the hemophiliac patient, or to preoperatively prepare the hemophiliac patient, so that necessary surgical procedures are now possible in this group of patients. In addition to devising and introducing into clinical medicine a preparation containing the lacking protein in the hemophiliacs, which changed their treatment in a major way, she also made a number of contributions on the extraction, preservation, and survival of proteins. At the time of her death, she was widely respected in the field of hematology.


Selected work

- Measurements of membrane potential in a single muscle fiber (with Dr. Ralph W. Gerard), 1942
- The coagulation of the blood, contribution on assays of coagulation factors
- The coagulation of the blood, in vitro synthesis of coagulation factors
- The coagulation of the blood, antibody inhibitors of factor VIII, 1954
- The Fifth Annual Paul M. Aggeler Memorial Lecture, 1974


Honors

- The Murray Thelin Award of the National Hemophilia Foundation, 1968
- The Elizabeth Blackwell Award from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 1973
- The Paul M. Aggeler Memorial Lectureship, 1974
- The Professional Achievement Award from University of Chicago, 1975
- The National Hemophilia Foundation renamed its Research Fellowship Awards the Judith Graham Pool Research Fellowships


References


External links

* * http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/pool-judith-graham {{DEFAULTSORT:Pool, Judith Graham University of Chicago alumni 1919 births 1975 deaths Stanford University School of Medicine faculty American medical researchers American medical academics People from Queens, New York American scientists Jewish American scientists Women medical researchers 20th-century American Jews Burials at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park Jewish women scientists