Question 1

True or false: Gertrude Elion won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1988.

Accepted Answer

True. She shared the 1988 Nobel Prize with James Black and George Hitchings for their drug discovery principles.

Question 2

True or false: Elion never earned a formal PhD, yet she developed life-saving drugs.

Accepted Answer

True. She earned a master's degree but was denied a PhD due to financial constraints; she later received honorary doctorates.

Question 3

True or false: She invented the first chemotherapy drug for childhood leukemia.

Accepted Answer

True. Elion developed 6-mercaptopurine, which became the first effective treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children.

Question 4

True or false: Gertrude Elion was the first woman to head a major pharmaceutical research lab.

Accepted Answer

False. She never led a lab; she worked as a senior research chemist at Burroughs Wellcome, but not as its head.

Question 5

True or false: She developed the drug acyclovir, which cures herpes infections completely.

Accepted Answer

False. Acyclovir treats herpes but does not cure it; it suppresses outbreaks and reduces transmission.

Question 6

True or false: She discovered the immunosuppressant drug azathioprine, used in organ transplants.

Accepted Answer

False. Azathioprine was developed by George Hitchings and others; Elion focused on purine analogs like 6-mercaptopurine.

Question 7

True or false: Elion's first job was as a high school chemistry teacher.

Accepted Answer

False. She initially worked as a lab assistant and a food chemist, not a teacher; she struggled to find research jobs due to her gender.

Question 8

True or false: Elion's work led to the creation of AZT, the first AIDS drug approved by the FDA.

Accepted Answer

True. She synthesized azidothymidine (AZT) in 1964, initially for cancer; it later became the first HIV/AIDS treatment.

Gertrude Elion Trivia Questions