Medicine

Albert Saperstein was born on August 26, 1906, in Białystok, Russian Empire (present-day Poland). Sabin developed one of the vaccines that helped to nearly eradicate polio worldwide.

Biochemist Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori was born on August 15, 1896, in Prague, Austro-Hungarian Empire. She was the first woman to earn a Nobel Prize In Physiology or Medicine.

On July 29, 1998, the USPS issued its first Semipostal stamp to fund breast cancer research. The stamp raised over $78 million and was the first of several US Semipostals to raise money for worthy causes.

Nurse Clara Louise Maass was born on June 28, 1876, in East Orange, New Jersey.  Maass’s participation in the Army’s Yellow Fever Commission claimed her life, but also contributed to the discovery of a treatment for the dangerous disease.

Johns Hopkins was born on May 19, 1795, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. A successful businessman, he donated $7 million for the creation of schools and hospitals, the largest philanthropic gift in America up to that time.

On February 14, 1998, the first National Donor Day was held in the US. The annual event is held to raise awareness of the need for organ and tissue donations and to honor those who have donated, those who have received donations, and those we lost before donations became available.

On January 23, 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to graduate from medical school.

Severo Ochoa de Albornoz was born on September 24, 1905, in Luarca, Spain. Ochoa researched how cells build proteins like RNA, which earned him the Nobel Prize in 1956.

Health activist and philanthropist Mary Woodward Lasker was born on November 30, 1900, in Watertown, Wisconsin.