Florence Sabin's studies of the central nervous system of newborn infants, the origin of the lymphatic system, and the body's responses to infections--especially by the bacterium that causes tuberculosis--carved an important niche for her in the annals of science. In addition to her research at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Rockefeller University, she taught new generations of scientists and thus, extended her intellectual reach far beyond her own life. In addition, 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 Florence Rena Sabin in Central City, Colorado, to George Kimball Sabin, a...