Anna Wessels Williams

Anna Wessels Williams
Born(1863-03-17)March 17, 1863
Died1954 (aged 90–91)
NationalityAmerican
EducationWoman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary
Occupationpathologist
Years active1891-1934
Known forPark-Williams bacillus
Park-Williams fixative
Williams' stain
Notable workhelped to develop a treatment for diphtheria
Parents
  • William Williams (father)
  • Jane Van Saun (mother)

Dr. Anna Wessels Williams (1863–1954) was an American pathologist at the first municipal diagnostic laboratory in the United States. She used her medical training from the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary for research rather than medical practice, and over the course of her career worked on developing vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests for many diseases, including diphtheria, rabies,[1] scarlet fever, smallpox, influenza, and meningitis. Notably, a strain of diphtheria-causing bacteria that Williams isolated and cultivated was instrumental in producing an antitoxin to bring the disease under control.[2] In 1932, she became the first woman to be elected chair of the laboratory section of the American Public Health Association.[3]

  1. ^ Williams & Lowden 1906.
  2. ^ Swaby, Rachel (2015-04-07). Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World. Crown/Archetype. pp. 7–10. ISBN 9780553446807.
  3. ^ "Changing the Face of Medicine". NCBI. Retrieved 28 July 2018.