Ball was successful and her work revolutionized leprosy treatment, allowing patients to be discharged from hospitals and released from leper colonies. Hollman asked her to work on extracting the active components in the oil to create an injectable medicine.
For years, the oil from chaulmoogra trees had been used as an ointment to treat leprosy, but with limited success. Harry Hollman, learned about her master’s thesis work extracting the active chemical from awa roots and approached her with a proposition. So, I’m gonna tell you about both.īall was born in Seattle in 1892 and received degrees in pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmacy from the University of Washington before pursuing a masters in chemistry from UH. I’m so tired of hearing people make excuses for the horrendous actions of White male scientists telling us to focus on the great science they did, while the great science being done by Black scientists (who haven’t done horrendous things) is only mentioned as an afterthought. I think it’s important to acknowledge that they’re the first because it shines light on just how unequal academia and STEM in general is, but it’s also important not to just treat these Black scientists, who’ve likely worked twice as hard as their White colleagues to get there, as token minorities or historical footnotes or, even worse, proof that “all’s good now – move along, no systemic racism to see here”. Yet, when we hear about Black scientists, it’s usually because they’re the firsts to hold various positions. How often do you see articles headlined “So-and-so becomes the 89th consecutive White man to become a professor at some prestigious institution”? Instead, we’re told about so-and-so’s research. And these things are really important to call attention to – especially as huge inequities continue to this day. I’m going to then go deeper into the science of what she did and found because, well, biochemistry! But more importantly, because she deserves to be remembered for more than just being “forgotten.” Yes, Alice Ball was all those firsts.
I’m going to start by telling you an overview of Bell’s story, but I’m not going to stop there. Even then, it took decades before the University of Hawaii (UH)(then known as the College of Hawaii), where she conducted her groundbreaking work, honored her contributions, despite Ball being the university’s first Black chemist, researcher, and teacher as well as the first woman to earn a master’s degree from UH (in 1915). In fact, after her tragic early death, a colleague continued her work and published her findings without giving her credit until another colleague called him out. Alice Ball (1892-1916) developed the first truly effective treatment for leprosy (Hansen’s disease), but you likely haven’t heard of her.