4 Episodes

Revisiting the Pathologist in the Basement

This podcast is distributed by PRX and published in partnership with Scientific American. Season 1 art is by Marina Muun.

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Description

May is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month and it’s also the birth month of Dr. Dorothy Andersen, the pathologist who first identified the disease in 1938.We’re revisiting our 2021 inaugural Lost Women of Science season in her honor.

A few important things have happened since we first aired The Pathologist in the Basement, and it’s safe to say that Dr. Anderson is now a little less lost. In late November 2021, Dr. Scott Baird, a pediatric critical care doctor at Columbia University, Dr. Anderson's own institution, published an exhaustive biography of her.

And in November 2023, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation changed the name of its highest scientific honor to the “Dorothy Andersen and Paul di Sant’Agnese Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award.”

This accolade was originally named in honor of just Dr. di Sant’Agnese, one of Dr. Andersen’s mentees. (You can learn more about their work together in Episode 2.) Dr. Andersen now receives equal billing, and we’d like to think we had something to do with that.

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Barnard is one of the most selective academic institutions in the nation, Barnard College is devoted to empowering young women to pursue their passions. Throughout the 2021-22 academic year, Barnard is celebrating all things related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) at the College.

Barnard’s expert faculty, its symbiotic relationship with Columbia University, and its location in New York City makes it singularly positioned to offer unparalleled opportunities to women who will become tomorrow’s STEM leaders.

The College has also increasingly incorporated STEM curricula and programming into its liberal arts education, providing students with interdisciplinary knowledge and skill sets that they can carry beyond Barnard.