Angela Hartley Brodie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Angela Hartley 28 September 1934 Oldham, England |
| Died | 7 June 2017 (aged 82) |
| Known for | Development of first aromatase inhibitors |
| Spouse | Harry Brodie |
| Children | 2, including John H. Brodie |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Cancer research |
| Institutions | Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, University of Maryland School of Medicine |
Angela Hartley Brodie (28 September 1934 – 7 June 2017) was a British biochemist who pioneered development of steroidal aromatase inhibitors in cancer research. Born in Lancashire (now Greater Manchester), Brodie studied chemical pathology to a doctoral level in Sheffield and was awarded a fellowship sponsored by National Institutes of Health. After 17 years of working in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts on oral contraceptives with Harry Brodie, whom she married, she switched focus to the effects of the oestrogen-producing enzyme, aromatase, on breast cancer.
Brodie managed to get an aromatase inhibitor into a limited clinical trial in breast cancer patients in London, which had such a profound effect that it led to Novartis-sponsored trials, the development of formestane, the first aromatase inhibitor, eventually marketed in 1994. Brodie's work has been hailed "as among the most important contributions to cancer cure."