Andromachi Papanikolaou

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Andromachi "Mary" Mavrogeni Papanikolaou

pathologist who independently invented the pap test. For 21 years, Mary Papanikolaou volunteered to have her cervix sampled and smeared by her husband to help with his efforts to create the pap test, which has been shown to reduce cervical cancer deaths by up to 80 percent.[1][2]

Early life

Born Andromachi Mavrogeni, Papanikolaou was the descendant of the

New York Hospital's Pathology Department and Cornell University Medical College's Anatomy Department, where Papanikolaou joined him as an unpaid technician.[4] [5]

Contribution to research

Throughout her husband's career, Papanikolaou managed both his laboratory affairs and the couple's household affairs. At Cornell, Georgios was observing the ovulatory cycle of guinea pigs, but because he was not a clinician, he lacked access to patients. For 21 years, Mary Papanikolaou volunteered as an experimental subject for her husband, climbing up onto his examination couch every day so that he could sample and smear her cervix.[6] She was quoted as saying: "There was no other option but for me to follow him inside the lab, making his way of life mine" and also decided not to have children so she could continue collaborating with her husband.[7]

Partly through his wife's volunteer efforts, Georgios was able to determine that the monthly changes to guinea pig vaginal discharge that he observed in the lab could also be seen in humans. To provide additional subjects for her husband's research, Mary Papanikolaou also held a party for some female friends, who agreed to have their own cervixes sampled.[8] After one of these women was later diagnosed with cervical cancer, Georgios took her sample back to the lab and, with the help of another cytologist, determined that cancerous cells were indeed visible on the sample. In Georgios' own words: “The first observation of cancer cells in the smear of the uterine cervix gave me one of the greatest thrills I ever experienced during my scientific career.”[9]

The Pap test is still widely used as a means of early cancer detection and is estimated to have reduced fatalities caused by cancer of the reproductive systems in women by half.[10] By some accounts, the pap test is considered the most significant advance in the control of cancer in the 20th century.[11]

Death

Mary Papanicolaou continued her husband's work at the Papanicolaou Cancer Research Institute after his death on February 19, 1962. She died in Miami in October 1982.{Miami Herald, October 15, 1982 pg.33}

Legacy

Georgios and Andromachi Papanikolaou's efforts in the fight against cervical cancer, along with that of Helen Octavia Dickens and Hashime Murayama, are featured in the documentary film The Cancer Detectives which first aired on American Experience on March 26, 2024.[12]

Notes

  1. ^ Greek: Ανδρομάχη Μαυρογένη Παπανικολάου; her name is transcribed differently in various sources; her first name is written as either Andromahi, Andromachi or Andromache, her maiden name as Mavroyeni, Mavrogeni, Mavrogenis or Mavrogenous, and her last name as Papanikolaou or Papanicolaou.

If one is to respect the person, her married name is "Papanicolaou". This is how her husband George spelled his name in all his publications and how she and he signed their names.

References

  1. PMID 20176693
    .
  2. PMID 31051722
    . Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  3. ^ "Georgios Nikolaou Papanikolaou: Person, pictures and information - Fold3.com". Fold3. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  4. ^
    PMID 26512152
    .
  5. ^ "Georgios Nikolaou Papanikolaou: Person, pictures and information - Fold3.com". Fold3. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  6. ^ Crazedturkey (2012-08-08). "Medical History: Mrs. Papanicolaou". Medical History. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  7. ^ "GREECE IS | HEALTH | 2017-2018". Issuu. 25 December 2017. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  8. ^ "Georgios Papanikolaou: Papa of the Pap Smear". HowStuffWorks. 2019-05-13. Archived from the original on 2019-07-21. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  9. ^ Petrovchich, Iva (2019-04-30). "The Hilarious and Compelling Origins of the Pap Smear". synapse.ucsf.edu. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
  10. ^ EDT, Ewan Palmer On 5/13/19 at 3:46 AM (2019-05-13). "Who was Georgios Papanikolaou? Pap Smear pioneer celebrated in Google Doodle". Newsweek. Retrieved 2019-09-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. PMID 9491881
    .
  12. ^ Robinson, Jennifer. "American Experience: The Cancer Detectives," KPBS.org, Tuesday, February 27, 2024. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
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