Ruth Shoer Rappaport (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Shoer; April 22, 1937 – April 28, 2020) was an American scientist and vaccine researcher.

Early life and education

Ruth Shoer was born on April 22, 1937, to Jennie (Pearl) Shoer and Irving Shoer. She grew up in

Peabody, Massachusetts Peabody () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 54,481 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. Peabody is located in the North Shore region of Massachusetts, and is known for its rich industrial histo ...

. She graduated from Peabody High School. Along with her twin sister, Shoer graduated from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

in 1959. She continued her studies at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and earned her Ph.D. in 1967.

Career

Ruth Shoer Rappaport was the first woman hired as a scientist at Wyeth Laboratories. She worked at Wyeth for four decades and rose to become the senior director of clinical immunology and virology at the company. Her research contributed to the development of vaccines for several diseases such as

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

, human rotavirus,

adenovirus Adenoviruses (members of the family ''Adenoviridae'') are medium-sized (90–100 nm), nonenveloped (without an outer lipid bilayer) viruses with an icosahedral nucleocapsid containing a double-stranded DNA genome. Their name derives from the ...

E. coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...

, and

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

. Throughout her career, Shoer Rappaport authored dozens of scientific papers.

Personal life

Shoer Rappaport had two sisters,

Patricia Goldman-Rakic Patricia Goldman-Rakic ( ; née Shoer, April 22, 1937 – July 31, 2003) was an American professor of neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry and psychology at Yale University School of Medicine. She pioneered multidisciplinary research of the p ...

, her identical twin, and Linda Faith Schoer. Shoer Rappaport was Jewish.

Death

Ruth Shoer Rappaport died on April 28, 2020, in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. She was 83 years old. She is buried at Maple Hill Cemetery in Peabody. Shoer Rappaport bequeathed $1 million to her alma mater Peabody Veterans Memorial High School.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rappaport, Ruth Shoer 1937 births 2020 deaths American immunologists American women immunologists