Ruth Smith Lloyd
Zoologist
Ruth Smith Lloyd
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|
---|---|
Born |
Ruth M Smith
( 1917-01-17 ) January 17, 1917 |
Died |
February 5, 1995
(1995-02-05)
(aged
78)
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Alma mater | |
Known for | First African-American woman to earn a PhD in anatomy. |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Anatomy |
Institutions | |
Ruth Smith Lloyd (January 17, 1917 – February 5, 1995) was a 20th-century scientist whose research focused on fertility , the relationship of sex hormones to growth, and the female sex cycle. She earned a PhD in the field of anatomy from Western Reserve University in 1941, making her the first African-American woman to have reached this achievement. [1] Lloyd worked on the faculty of medicine at Howard University from 1942 to 1977. She married physician Sterling Morrison Lloyd in 1939, and they had three children: Marilyn, Sterling and David. She died of cancer in 1995.
Early life and education
Ruth Smith was born in Washington, DC on January 17, 1917. [2] Her parents were Mary Elizabeth (Morris) Smith, who was a clerk in the US Treasury Department , and Bradley Donald Smith, who was a pullman porter . [2] She had two sisters named Hilda B, and M Otwiner. [3] [4] She was the youngest child. [5] Lloyd attended the prestigious, historically black, Dunbar High School . [2] [3]
Lloyd attended Mount Holyoke College , which was then a mostly white institution. [6] Her choice of college was reportedly influenced by the experience of her brother-in-law, William Montague Cobb , who was married to Hilda. [2] Lloyd graduated with a bachelor of arts magna cum laude in 1937, majoring in zoology . [2] [7]
From 1937 to 1938, Lloyd studied for a master's degree in zoology at Howard University supported by a fellowship, under Ernest Everett Just . [2] She had planned on becoming a school teacher, but was encouraged to undertake further study. [5] Lloyd gained a fellowship from the Rosenwald Fund and undertook doctoral studies under Boris Rubenstein at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio . [2] She studied the fertility of macaque monkeys , [8] becoming the first African-American woman to gain a PhD in anatomy with her dissertation, Adolescence of macaques (Macacus rhesus) in 1941. [9] [2]
Career
Lloyd taught at Hampton Institute in Virginia from 1941 to 1942, and then joined the medical faculty of Howard University in 1942. [2] [5] [3] Lloyd worked at Howard until her retirement in 1977. [5] [3] She taught physiology and anatomy, reaching the rank of associate professor in 1955. [2] Her areas of research were endocrinology , sex-related hormones, and medical genetics . [5] Lloyd also chaired the university's Committee on Student Guidance and was director of the Academic Reinforcement Program. [2] [3] From 1947, the Department of Anatomy in which she worked was chaired by William Montague Cobb. [10]
She was a member of Sigma Xi honorary scientific society and the American Association of Anatomists . [3]
Personal life
Ruth Smith married Sterling Morrison Lloyd on December 30, 1939. [3] [2] He was a physician who also graduated from Howard University, and died in 1980. [2] [3] Lloyd had three children and eight grandchildren. [3] [2] In retirement, she was active in the All-Souls Unitarian Church, helped found the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 1987, and was a member of the social and service organization, Girl Friends. [2] [3]
Lloyd died of cancer at home in Washington on February 5, 1995. [3]
See also
References
Sources
- Cobb, W M (1967). "The Howard Department of Anatomy" . J Natl Med Assoc . 59 (6): 421–428. PMC 2611414 . PMID 4867381 .
- Epps, C H; Johnson, D G; Vaughan, A L (1993). "Black medical pioneers: African-American 'firsts' in academic and organized medicine. Part three" . J Natl Med Assoc . 85 (10): 777–796. PMC 2568213 . PMID 8254696 .
- Lloyd, Ruth Smith (1941). Adolescence of macaques (Macacus rhesus) (PhD thesis). Cleveland OH: Western Case University.
- Lloyd, Ruth Smith (1951). "Ovarian changes in immature rabbits induced by equine gonadotrophin". The Anatomical Record . 109 (3): 431–445. doi : 10.1002/ar.1091090303 . PMID 14819658 . S2CID 10909795 .
- Lloyd, Ruth Smith (1952). "The vaginal smear technique a critical review of its present status in the practice of medicine" . J Natl Med Assoc . 44 (1): 15–21. PMC 2617095 . PMID 14908569 .
- Lloyd, Ruth Smith; Rubenstein, Boris B (1941). "Multipla ova in the follicles of juvenile monkeys". Endocrinology . 29 (6): 1008–1014. doi : 10.1210/endo-29-6-1008 .
- Oakes, Elizabeth H (2002). International encyclopedia of women scientists . Facts on File. ISBN 978-0816043811 . OCLC 45835614 .
- Sammons, Vivian Ovelton (1990). Blacks in science and medicine . Hemisphere. ISBN 978-0891166658 .
- Sampson, Calvin C (1991). "William Montague Cobb MD PhD (1904-1990)" . J Natl Med Assoc . 83 (1): 13–14. PMC 2627008 .
- Spangenburg, Ray; Moser, Kit (2003). African Americans in science, math, and invention . Facts On File. ISBN 978-1438107745 .
- Warren, Wini (1999). Black women scientists in the United States . Bloomington IN: Indiana UP. ISBN 978-0253336033 .
- "Ruth Smith Lloyd, Howard U. Professor" . Washington Post . 9 February 1995.
External links
- Photos of the Howard Department of Anatomy, including Ruth Smith Lloyd in a history of the department . Cobb (1967)