Photo from Justine Juillard/LinkedIn
Jun 18, 2025, 09:24
Justine Juillard: This Scientist Patented 45 Drugs and Won a Nobel Prize — After Being Told She Couldn’t Get a PhD
Justine Juillard, VC Investment Partner and Campus Lead at Critical, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“This scientist patented 45 drugs and won a Nobel Prize—after being told she couldn’t get a PhD.
When Gertrude Elion applied to grad school in the 1930s, 15 programs rejected her.
Not because she wasn’t qualified (she graduated top of her class).
But because she was a woman.
So she took a job testing pickle acidity and yolk color for a food company.
Eventually, she moved to Johnson & Johnson, hoping for real research—but ended up testing the strength of surgical sutures.
Then, finally, a chance: a lab assistant role at Burroughs Wellcome in 1944.
There, without a doctorate, Gertrude pioneered a new approach to drug discovery—studying how diseased cells function and designing treatments to target their weaknesses.
The drugs she developed or co-developed include…
– Mercaptopurine: the first treatment for childhood leukemia
– Azathioprine: the world’s first immunosuppressant, which made organ transplants possible
– Pyrimethamine: for malaria
– Trimethoprim: for UTIs, meningitis, and sepsis
– Acyclovir: the first targeted antiviral, for herpes
– Nelarabine: for leukemia and lymphoma
– AZT: the first drug used against HIV/AIDSShe racked up 45 patents.
Mentored dozens of researchers.
Became head of experimental therapy at Burroughs Wellcome.
And in 1988, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Even after retirement, she kept coming into the lab.
She spent her final years mentoring med students at Duke and consulting on drug trials.
Gertrude Elion never found the cure for cancer she dreamed of at 15, after watching her grandfather die from it.
But she gave the world something just as powerful—a way to treat leukemia, prevent organ rejection, stop viral infections like herpes, and slow the spread of HIV.
Chances are, someone you love has been saved by her work. But had you ever heard her name before today?
Follow Justine Juillard for daily female founder spotlights in 2025 and tap the ‘bell’ at the top of my profile to turn on notifications—so you don’t miss a single story.”
Sharon M Castellino, Mark R. Hudgens Chair for Clinical Research at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, reposted Justine Juillard‘s post on LinkedIn adding:
“I was extremely fortunate to be a mentee of Dr. Trudy Elion while I was a medical student at Duke. She was a remarkable force.
Thank you for bringing her story into the spotlight. I prescribe these every week in pediatric oncology clinic.”
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