{{Short description|American microbiologist (1888–1962)}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Sara Elizabeth Branham Matthews | image = Sara-Branham-1955.jpg | caption = Injecting a chick,1955 | birth_date = November 16, 1888 | birth_place = [[Oxford, Georgia|Oxford]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[United States]] | death_date = {{dda|1962|11|16|1888|7|25}} | death_place = Oxford, Georgia {{citation needed|date=December 2021}} | resting_place = Oxford Historical cemetery | field = [[Microbiology]] | alma_mater = University of Colorado Boulder | prizes = [[Howard Taylor Ricketts]] (1924) | spouse = Phillips S. Matthews }}
[[File:Sara-Branham-Robert-Forkish.jpg|thumb|Sara Branham inoculating antiserum into a mouse to determine whether it would protect against meningitis, Robert Forkish assisting, 1937]] [[File:Sara-Elizabeth-Branham.jpg|thumb|Sara Branham summarizing report on a "mouse protection test," ca 1938|left]] [[File:NIH-Division-of-Biologics-Control.jpg|thumb|NIH Division of Biologics Control, with Sara Branham, 1938|left]] '''Sara Elizabeth Branham Matthews''' (1888–1962) was an American [[microbiologist]] and [[physician]] best known for her research into the isolation and treatment of ''[[Neisseria meningitidis]]'', a causative organism of meningitis.
==Biography== Branham was born July 25, 1888, in [[Oxford, Georgia]] to mother Sarah ("Sallie") Stone and father Junius Branham.<ref name="oxford">{{cite web|title=Sara E. Branham|url=http://www.oxfordhistoricalsociety.org/sara-e-branham.html|website=Oxford Historical Society|accessdate=25 November 2017}}</ref> Although education of women was not commonplace at the time, members of Sara Branham's family were firm believers in the value of education for women.<ref name="wes2015">{{cite web|title=The Grand Lady of Microbiology Sara Branham Matthews|url=https://issuu.com/wesleyancollege/docs/wesleyanmagfall15web/8|website=Issuu|date=15 December 2015 |publisher=Wesleyan College|accessdate=24 November 2017}}</ref> Following in the footsteps of her mother (Amanda Stone Branham, 1885 graduate) and grandmother (Elizabeth Flournoy Stone, 1840 graduate),<ref name="wes2015"/> she attended [[Wesleyan College]] in [[Macon, Georgia]] and graduated with a [[Bachelor of Science]] degree in biology in 1907 as a third generation alumna.<ref name=geo>{{cite web|url=http://georgiawomen.org/2010/10/matthews-sara-branham<!---deadlink:---http://www.georgiawomen.org/_honorees/matthewss/matthews.pdf--->|title=Sara Branham Matthews|publisher=[[Georgia Women of Achievement]]|date=October 20, 2005|accessdate=June 3, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224211613/http://www.georgiawomen.org/2010/10/matthews-sara-branham/|archive-date=2014-02-24|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=wes>{{cite web|url=http://www.wesleyancollege.edu/profiles/sarabranhammatthews.cfm|title=Sara Branham Matthews Class of 1907|publisher=[[Wesleyan College]]|accessdate=June 3, 2014}}</ref> She was a member of [[Alpha Delta Pi]].<ref>''The Adelphean of Alpha Delta Pi.'' volume 11 (January-October 1918), page 58.</ref> With few professional opportunities offered to women with an education then, she became a schoolteacher, working for ten years in Georgia's public school system in Sparta, Decatur, and finally at [[Girls High School (Atlanta)|Atlanta's Girls' High School]].<ref name=geo/><ref name=wes2015/> In the summer of 1917, she began taking classes at the [[University of Colorado Boulder]] to expand her education,<ref name=wes2015/> but within a few weeks, she was hired by the University of Colorado Boulder in 1917 as a [[bacteriology]] teacher, since there was a shortage of men from the department during [[World War I]]. She remarked on the change of roles: "When I had had about six weeks of bacteriology, they offered me a job to teach it!<ref name=wes2015/>" She completed a second [[Bachelor of Science]] degree at the university in 1919, majoring in chemistry and zoology, and stated that "When the war was over, I was too deep in bacteriology to ever get out again."<ref name=wes/>
After finishing her degree in Colorado in 1919, she went to Chicago during the [[1918 flu pandemic|influenza pandemic of 1918-1919]] with a desire to enter the field of medical research. She enrolled at the [[University of Chicago]] where she would eventually complete, all with honors, a [[Master in Science]] degree, a [[Doctor of Philosophy]] degree in bacteriology, and a [[Doctor of Medicine]] degree.<ref name=wes/> Her advisor at the university suggested that she study the etiology of influenza for her thesis. Therefore, in pursuit of her degrees at the University of Chicago, she studied filterable agents (viruses), and published over a dozen papers on the topic. This work eventually earned Branham a position as instructor in the Department of Hygiene and Bacteriology.<ref name=wes2015/><ref name="snac">{{cite web|title=Branham, Sara Elizabeth, 1888|url=http://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6vj05zq|website=snac|accessdate=23 November 2017}}</ref>
In 1927, Branham left Chicago and began working as an associate at the [[University of Rochester School of Medicine]] under [[Stanhope Bayne-Jones]].<ref name=snac/> Shortly thereafter, the outbreak of [[meningococcal disease|meningococcus]] arrived in California from China. Because of this, Branham's career shifted paths, and she began working for what is now the [[National Institutes of Health]] (NIH) (then, known as the Hygienic Laboratory of the United States Public Health Service) in [[Bethesda, Maryland]] as a senior bacteriologist, in order to study meningococcus. Branham stayed at the NIH for the rest of her career. She remained in the role for over 25 years until she was promoted to the Chief of Bacterial Toxins of the Division of Biological Standards in 1955.<ref name=bio>{{cite book|chapter=Branham, Sara Elizabeth (1888–1962)|pages=[https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict00ogil_0/page/349 349–350]|title=Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict00ogil_0|url-access=registration|year=2000|first1=Marilyn |last1=Ogilvie|first2=Joy |last2=Harvey |author-link=Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie |author2-link=Joy Harvey |publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9781135963439}}</ref><ref name=wes2015/>
Branham married retired businessman Philip S. Matthews in 1945.<ref name=geo/> Matthews died four years later.<ref name=snac/> Branham retired from the NIH in 1958 at the age of seventy from the position of Chief of the Section on Bacterial Toxins,<ref name=NIH-Tumblr>{{cite web|last1=NIH Office of History and Stetten Museum|title=Know your enemy|url=http://historyatnih.tumblr.com/post/112598040388/know-your-enemy-describes-the-work-of-dr-sarah|publisher=National Institutes of Health (NIH)|accessdate=20 March 2015}}</ref> and died November 16, 1962<ref name=geo/><ref name=bio/> after a sudden heart attack. She is buried in Oxford, Georgia in her family's plot.<ref name=snac/>
Broadly, Sara Branham's research was based in the field of [[infectious disease]]s, including [[influenza]], [[salmonella]], [[shigella]], [[diphtheria]], [[dysentery]], and [[psittacosis]].<ref name=geo/><ref name=nih>{{cite web|url=https://history.nih.gov/illustrated-histories/nih-biographies-plus/|title=Early Women Scientists at NIH|publisher=[[National Institutes of Health]]|access-date=July 25, 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612040106/https://history.nih.gov/display/history/Early+Women+Scientists+at+the+NIH|archive-date=June 12, 2020}}</ref> She studied the toxins produced by ''[[Shigella dysenteriae]]''.<ref name=snac/> The main focus of Branham's work at the National Institutes of Health, however, was [[meningitis]]. This focus was Branham responding to what was quickly becoming a health crisis: an untreatable form of meningitis had arrived in the United States and began spreading quickly. She is credited with the discovery and isolation of ''[[Neisseria meningitidis]]''. ''[[Neisseria]]'' is a common causative organism of meningitis,<ref name=nih/> and its taxonomy is well characterized by Branham throughout her work. She also discovered that the infection could be treated with [[sulfa drugs]] rather than antiserums that were used at the time, but that were ineffective in treating these bacteria. Branham was considered an international expert on the neisseriae:<ref name=snac/> in 1970, years after her death, ''[[Moraxella catarrhalis|Neisseria catarrhalis]]'' was renamed ''Branhamella catarrhalis'' to commemorate Branham's great contributions after differences were found between that species and other members of [[genus]] ''Neisseria''.<ref name="clinical">{{cite journal|last=Catlin|first=B. Wesley|title=''Branhamella catarrhalis'': an Organism Gaining Respect as a Pathogen|journal=Clinical Microbiology Reviews|date=Oct 1990|volume=3|issue=4|pages=293–320|doi=10.1128/cmr.3.4.293|pmc=358165|pmid=2121328}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Catlin|first=B. Wesley|title=Transfer of the organism named ''Neisseria catarrhalis'' to ''Branhamella'' gen. nov.|year=1970|journal=International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology|volume=20|issue=2|pages=155-159|doi=10.1099/00207713-20-2-155|doi-access=free}}</ref> The new name was officially accepted in the 1974 edition of ''[[Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology]]'',<ref name=bio/><ref name=clinical/> but more recently, ''[[Branhamella]]'' has been considered to be a [[subgenus]] of ''Moraxella'' that contains ''M. catarrhalis'' and other bacteria with [[cocci|spherical morphology]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Chapter 23.2.5|title=Food Spoilage Microorganisms|pages=668-693|last=Betts|first=G.|year=2006|publisher=Woodhead Publishing|isbn=978-1-85573-966-6|editor-last=de W. Blackburn|editor-first=Clive|doi=10.1533/9781845691417.5.668}}</ref>
Branham's studies in infectious disease were nationally known, and she came to be considered as one of the "grand ladies of microbiology". In a biographical article about Branham published in the ''Atlanta Constitution'',<ref name="constitution">{{cite news|title=Georgia-Born Woman Doctor Uncovers Cure for the Dread Germ of Meningitis|newspaper=Atlanta Constitution|date=March 16, 1939|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56029692/georgia-born-woman-doctor-uncovers-cure/|access-date=July 25, 2020|pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56029692/georgia-born-woman-doctor-uncovers-cure/ 1], [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56029711/georgia-born-woman-doctor-uncovers-cure/ 9] | via=[[newspapers.com]] }}</ref> the huge impact of her work was summarized in the exclamation: "She killed millions of killers!"<ref name=constitution/>
Alongside her busy professional life, Sara Branham played an active role in the community. She is regarded as a very influential woman that inspired those who worked with her throughout her career. She gave back to her [[alma mater]] by being an active alumna and supporter, returning for reunions and serving as alumna trustee from 1936 to 1939. She was a featured speaker for several events and gave many lectures, including two in 1960 just a couple years before she died.<ref name=wes2015/> She was also active in many scientific societies. She contributed to what is now the [[American Society for Microbiology]] (then, known as the Society of American Bacteriologists).<ref name=snac/> She was a delegate at the First and Second International Congresses in Microbiology in 1930 (Paris) and 1936 (London).<ref name=snac/> She served as a diplomat on both the American Board of Pathology in the field of Clinical Microbiology and the [[National Board of Medical Examiners]].<ref name=wes2015/> One of Branham's colleagues remarked that Branham was equally comfortable entertaining in a chiffon dress and in a lab coat. She was known to be meticulous about her home and lawn, and was an avid ornithologist and gardener.<ref name=snac/>
==Awards and honors== Branham was awarded the [[Howard Taylor Ricketts]] Prize in 1924 from the University of Chicago. Wesleyan College's Alumnae Association began recognizing the distinguished achievement of their individual alumnae in 1950.<ref name="wes2015" /> In the inaugural year, Branham was honored with Wesleyan College's first Distinguished Service Award in 1950. She later received a similar award from the University of Chicago Medical School Alumni Association. She was also awarded an honorary doctor of science from the University of Colorado, which would be the last of six total degrees she earned in her life.<ref name="wes2015" /><ref name="oxford" /> In 1959, she was honored as the [[American Medical Women's Association]]'s Medical Woman of the Year. In a similar fashion as the honor from Wesleyan, Branham was honored in [[Georgia Women of Achievement]]'s first class of inductees in 1992.<ref name="wes2015" />
Over the course of her career, she published eighty papers and helped with the composition of many textbooks.<ref name=wes2015/> Her papers are held at the [[National Library of Medicine]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Sara E. Branham Papers|url=https://findingaids.nlm.nih.gov/repositories/ammp/resources/branham528|publisher=U.S. National Library of Medicine}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
{{Georgia Women of Achievement |state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Branham Matthews, Sara}} [[Category:1888 births]] [[Category:1962 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American medical doctors]] [[Category:20th-century American biologists]] [[Category:20th-century American women biologists]] [[Category:20th-century American women medical doctors]] [[Category:20th-century American women civil servants]] [[Category:American bacteriologists]] [[Category:American microbiologists]] [[Category:American medical researchers]] [[Category:American women medical researchers]] [[Category:American women microbiologists]] [[Category:National Institutes of Health people]] [[Category:Wesleyan College alumni]] [[Category:University of Colorado Boulder alumni]] [[Category:University of Colorado Boulder faculty]] [[Category:Pritzker School of Medicine alumni]] [[Category:People from Newton County, Georgia]] [[Category:Medical doctors from Georgia (U.S. state)]]