Jane Hinton (1919-2003) – was an African-American scientist and veterinarian. She completed her bachelor’s degree at Simmons College in 1939 at the age of 20. She then worked in her father’s laboratory and as an assistant to Dr. John Howard Mueller in Harvard University’s Department of Bacteriology and Immunology where she co-developed the Mueller-Hinton agar. This agar, which most of us may be familiar with, became the most widely used culture medium for Neisseria and the gold standard for antibiotic susceptibility testing. From 1942 to 1945, Dr. Hinton worked as a medical technician in Arizona for the U.S. War Department during World War II. After the war ended, she decided to pursue her interest in veterinary medicine, enrolling at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1949, she became one of the first two African-American women to graduate with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (VMD) in the U.S. and to join the Women’s Veterinary Medicine Association. She then worked as a small animal veterinarian until 1955 and afterwards worked as a federal government inspector for the Department of Agriculture in Massachusetts where she was involved in research and response to outbreaks of disease in livestock. She retired at the age of 41 and spent the rest of her life caring for a garden and a variety of pets at her home. Fun fact: she is the daughter of William Augustus Hinton (1883-1959) – the first black professor in the history of Harvard University. He is a world renowned expert in the diagnosis and treatment of syphilis and developed a diagnostic test for syphilis, now known as the “Hinton test”. Relevant articles:
Bastian, H. (23 April 2020). “Jane Hinton (1919-2003)”. Retrieved from https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jane-hinton-1919-2003/ Mueller, J.H. and Hinton, J. (1 October 1941). "A Protein-Free Medium for Primary Isolation of the Gonococcus and Meningococcus". Experimental Biology and Medicine. 48 (1): 330–333. doi:10.3181/00379727-48-13311. Karen Eusebio Masters student
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AuthorWe are graduate students at the Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba Archives
October 2023
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