Elizabeth Stern is probably one of the most significant physician-scientists who worked at the interface of...

Elizabeth Stern is probably one of the most significant physician-scientists who worked at the interface of epidemiology and cancer in the mid-20th century, but it is unlikely you have ever heard her name. You won’t read about Stern’s research in medical textbooks, or find any symposiums or departments dedicated to her memory. But her groundbreaking research led the way to our modern understanding of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer.

She found that patients diagnosed with dysplasia at the start of the study were at significantly higher risk for cervical cancer. Stern would go on to lead over a dozen epidemiological studies providing nearly irrefutable proof that dysplasia is an early marker of cervical cancer.

Of all of Stern’s achievements, perhaps her most lasting legacy is in the modern technology of the Pap test. She collaborated with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Rosenthal, then the head cytopathologist at U.C.L.A, to apply NASA computer imaging technology to Pap screening.

Stern developed a liquid-based sampling system to isolate and enrich the cervical epithelium, and helped define cellular criteria for computer programs. The work she did at JPL revolutionized Pap screening for cervical cancer, and her liquid-based sampling technique is still used in hospitals, laboratories, and clinics around the world.

Story via Scientific American
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/one-more-pioneering-woman-in-science-youve-probably-never-heard-of/

Bio:
https://www.biography.com/people/elizabeth-stern-38623

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