1994
In the late 1940s, Drs. Rachel Brown and Elizabeth Hazen, members of the Division of Laboratories and Research of the New York State Department of Health, conducted research in pursuit of an effective antibiotic. Tests of soil samples, collected from across the country by Dr. Hazen, yielded an organism from a Virginia farm that held promise as an antifungal agent.
Within that sample, Rachel Brown and Elizabeth Hazen discovered the first safe and effective antifungal antibiotic, Nystatin (named for New York State).
The two scientists donated all income from their invention, eventually more than $13 million, to Research Corporation for scientific research. The Brown-Hazen Fund was established to support research and other programs in the biomedical sciences, especially in microbiology, immunology, biochemistry, and mycology. The Fund made grants for fundamental investigations in the biomedical sciences, the strengthening of science programs in educational institutions, travel grants to attend medical conferences abroad, training programs, preparation of scientific papers for publication and sponsorship of science symposiums.
Rachel Brown graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1920 and received a doctorate in chemistry from University of Chicago in 1933. From 1926 to 1968, she was a biochemist at the Division of Laboratories and Research at the New York State Health Department.
Elizabeth Hazen received a doctorate in microbiology from Columbia University in 1926. From 1931 to 1960, she was also a staff member of the Division of Laboratories and Research.
Brown and Hazen received the prestigious Chemical Pioneer Award in 1975 and in 1994 were inducted posthumously into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.