Enid Cook de Rodaniche facts for kids

Enid Cook de Rodaniche (born 1906, died around 1988) was an amazing American scientist. She studied tiny germs like viruses and bacteria. She worked in Panama City at a place called the Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas. There, she was the first person to find the yellow fever virus in Panama. She also helped figure out what caused a polio outbreak in Panama in the 1950s. Enid Cook was also one of the first teachers at the University of Panama's School of Medicine. She was the first Black student to graduate from Bryn Mawr College, a famous school. A center at Bryn Mawr College is named after her, and an award for scientists who study viruses is given in her honor.

Her School Days

Enid Cook went to Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. She then attended Howard University. In 1927, she moved to Bryn Mawr College. She graduated from Bryn Mawr in 1931. She was the first Black student to graduate from this special group of schools called the Seven Sister schools.

Facing Challenges at College

Getting into Bryn Mawr College was a big discussion among the teachers and leaders there. The first president of the college, M. Carey Thomas, strongly opposed Enid's admission. Even though Thomas was no longer president, she tried to stop Enid from attending.

While Thomas was president, she had not allowed any Black students at Bryn Mawr. She even paid for another Black student, Jessie Redmon Fauset, to go to Cornell instead in 1903.

When Enid Cook was finally accepted, she was not allowed to live in the college dorms. She had to live off-campus with a professor's family. Black students were not allowed to live in Bryn Mawr dorms until 1946.

Becoming a Doctor of Viruses

Enid earned her Ph.D. (a very high degree) in virology from the University of Chicago in 1937. Virology is the study of viruses. Her main project was about the "St. Louis Encephalitis" virus.

Her Work as a Scientist

Enid Cook taught at the University of Chicago from 1937 to 1944. During this time, she wrote many articles about her research. She studied viruses like St. Louis encephalitis and herpes.

Fighting Diseases in Panama

In 1946, she became the chief of the Public Health Laboratory in Panama City. This lab was at the Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas. Her work there focused on diseases caused by viruses and rickettsias. Rickettsias are a type of bacteria.

She helped start the School of Medicine at the University of Panama. She was also its first professor of parasitology and microbiology. Parasitology is the study of parasites, and microbiology is the study of tiny living things like bacteria and viruses.

Important Discoveries

Throughout her career, Enid Cook de Rodaniche published over 30 scientific papers. Her research covered many different diseases. She studied rickettsioses like Rocky Mountain spotted fever and typhus. She also worked on viral diseases such as polio and yellow fever. Her research also included parasites like toxoplasmosis, giardia, and malaria. She helped us understand these diseases better.

Her Life

Enid Cook was born in 1906 in Washington, D.C. In 1944, she married Arcadio Rodaniche, who was a doctor from Panama. After they married, she moved to Panama City. She passed away in Panama in the late 1980s.

See also

In Spanish: Enid Cook de Rodaniche para niños