Ruth May Tunnicliff

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Ruth May Tunnicliff
An older white woman, in profile, with grey hair
Ruth May Tunnicliff, from the Smithsonian Institution Archives
BornMay 1, 1876
Macomb, Illinois, USA
DiedSeptember 22, 1946
Chicago
Occupation(s)Physician, pathologist
RelativesHelen Tunnicliff Catterall (sister)
Sarah Bacon Tunnicliff (sister)
Ralph T. Catterall (nephew)

Ruth May Tunnicliff (May 1, 1876 – September 22, 1946) was an American physician, medical researcher, bacteriologist, and pathologist, based in Chicago. She developed a serum against measles, and did laboratory research for the United States Army during the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Early life

Ruth May Tunnicliff was born in Macomb, Illinois, the youngest child of judge Damon G. Tunnicliff and his second wife, Sarah Alice Bacon Tunnicliffe.[1] Her older sisters were legal historian Helen Tunnicliff Catterall[2] and Chicago clubwoman Sarah Bacon Tunnicliff. All three sisters graduated from Vassar College. Ruth Tunnicliff pursued further studies at the University of Chicago and at the Women's Medical College at Northwestern University, before earning her medical degree at Rush Medical College in 1903, in the first class of women graduates from that program.[3][4] She lived at Hull House for a stint as a young woman.[5]

Career

Tunnicliff was a research bacteriologist at the John McCormick Memorial Institute for Infectious Diseases. She co-authored a book on gangrene, Noma: Gangrenous stomatitis, water cancer, scorbutic cancer, gangrena oris, gangrene of the mouth (1907).[6] She is best known for developing Tunnicliff's serum, which could prevent the measles if given soon after exposure.[1][3][7]

During World War I, she held the title "Contract Surgeon" with the United States Army,[8][9] and worked at Camp Pike in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Camp George Meade in Maryland, during the 1918 influenza pandemic.[10][11] Later in her career she worked on dental topics with Carolyn Hammond of the Chicago Dental Infirmary.[12][13][14] She served a term as president of the Chicago Society of Pathologists.[15]

Tunnicliff published her research on measles, rubella,[16] scarlet fever,[17] influenza,[18] and other topics in The Journal of the American Medical Association[19][20] The New England Journal of Medicine,[21] Experimental Biology and Medicine,[22] and The Journal of Infectious Diseases.[8][23]

Personal life

Tunnicliff lived in Chicago with her sister Sarah and their mother in Chicago. Their mother died in 1936.[24] Ruth Tunnicliff died in 1946, aged 70 years, in Chicago.[15] In 2015, she was one of the women honored by the McDonough County Women's Social Service Memorial, "Facing the Storm", a bronze statue in Macomb, Illinois.[1][25]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Dr. Ruth Tunnicliff – Bacteriologist/Developed the First Inoculation for Measles". Macomb Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  2. ^ "Guide to the Helen Tunnicliff Catterall and Ralph C. H. Catterall Family Papers circa 1840s-1956". University of Chicago Library. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  3. ^ a b Egger, Rich (October 14, 2020). "Proposal to Honor Macomb Woman for Life-Saving Medical Research". TriStates Public Radio. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  4. ^ Mckeough, Kevin (2017-03-27). "Women Physicians at Rush, 1900-1920". Rush InPerson. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  5. ^ Hallwas, John (August 20, 2011). "The Remarkable Tunnicliff sisters: Part 2 - Sarah and Ruth". The McDonough County Voice. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  6. ^ "Noma : gangrenous stomatitis, water cancer, scorbutic cancer, gangrena oris, gangrene of the mouth / George H. Weaver and Ruth Tunnicliff". Wellcome Collection. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  7. ISSN 0021-9584
    .
  8. ^
    ISSN 0022-1899
    .
  9. ^ "American Women Physicians in World War: Contract Surgeons". American Medical Women's Association. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
  10. PMID 30252528
    .
  11. PMID 26070967
    .
  12. ISSN 1048-6364
    .
  13. S2CID 72697926
    .
  14. ^ "Dentists to Hold Session in Hammond". The Times. 1936-10-07. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ a b "Dr. Ruth Tunnicliff". Chicago Tribune. 1946-09-23. p. 18. Retrieved 2021-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ISSN 0098-7484
    .
  17. JSTOR 30089032
    .
  18. ISSN 0022-1899
    .
  19. ISSN 0002-9955
    .
  20. ISSN 0002-9955
    .
  21. ISSN 0096-6762
    .
  22. S2CID 84697281
    .
  23. ISSN 0022-1899
    .
  24. ^ "Mrs. Sarah Tunnicliff, Widow of Justice, Dies". Chicago Tribune. 1936-06-24. p. 25. Retrieved 2021-01-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ Renken, Leslie (September 19, 2015). "Macomb sculpture honors female activists". Journal Star. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
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