Florence Rena Sabin's (1871-1953) studies of the central nervous system of newborn infants, the origin of the lymphatic system, and the immune system's responses to infections--especially by the bacterium that causes tuberculosis--carved an important niche for her in the annals of science. She also researched and taught at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Rockefeller University.

In addition to her contributions to science, Florence Sabin's later work as a public health administrator left a permanent imprint upon the communities in which she served. Some of the firsts achieved by Sabin include becoming the first woman faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, as well as its first female full professor, and the first woman to be elected president of the American Association of Anatomists.

Sabin was born on November 9, 1871, in Central City, Colorado, to George Kimball Sabin, a mining engineer and son of a country doctor, and...