Katherine Rotan Drinker (1889 – March 15, 1956) was an American physician.

Early life

Katherine Rotan was born in 1889 to mother Kate Sturm McCall Rotan and father Edward Rotan of

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

. She was one of nine children.

Education

Drinker attended

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

, graduating in 1910. She then attended the

Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania Founded in 1850, The Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (WMCP), formally known as The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, was the first American medical college dedicated to teaching women medicine and allowing them to earn the Doctor ...

, graduating in 1914 with her medical degree.

Career

In 1916, Drinker began a job at Harvard University School of Public Health. She and her husband researched the

Radium Girls The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting radium dials – watch dials and hands with radioluminescence, self-luminous paint. The incidents occurred at three factories in the United States: one ...

, industrial workers who became ill after regularly ingesting minute amounts of radium. Their publication on the subject is now regarded as "a classic in the field". When the '' Journal of Industrial Hygiene'' was established in 1919, Drinker was one of its first managing editors.

Death

Drinker died on March 15, 1956, in

Cataumet, Massachusetts Bourne ( ) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,452 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on specific parts of the town of Bourne, please see the articles on Bourne (CDP), ...

, at the age of 66. She died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

Personal life

In 1910, Drinker married Cecil Kent Drinker, a fellow physician and founder of the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

. They had a daughter, Anne Sandwith Zinsser, and a son, Cecil K. Drinker, Jr.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotan Drinker, Katherine 1889 births 1956 deaths Harvard University alumni American physicians Place of birth missing