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Sondra Schlesinger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sondra Schlesinger
Born (1934-07-10) July 10, 1934 (age 90)
EducationUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Scientific career
FieldsVirology
InstitutionsWashington University School of Medicine

Sondra Schlesinger (born July 10, 1934) is an American virologist and professor emeritus at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Early life and education

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Schlesinger was born in New Jersey on July 10, 1934. She was an undergraduate at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating in 1956 with a degree in chemistry; she remained at the same institution for doctoral work and received her Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1960. She then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Italy and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[1][2]

Academic career

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In 1964, Schlesinger joined the faculty of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology (now called the Department of Molecular Microbiology) at the Washington University School of Medicine. She was the first woman faculty member in the department. She remained at the school for the rest of her career, with sabbaticals and visiting positions at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories and at Harvard University. She advanced to full professor in 1977. Schlesinger retired and assumed professor emeritus status in 2001.[1][2]

Schlesinger's research interests focused on microbial genetics and later on the study of enveloped RNA viruses. With her husband and fellow WUSTL professor Milton Schlesinger,[3] she co-edited a major reference work on togaviruses and flaviviruses.[4]

Schlesinger was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1996[5] and served in a number of leadership positions for the organization.[2] She was the president of the American Society for Virology from 1992-1993.[2] She has an interest in the history of science and maintains a website with the support of the ASV documenting the history of molecular virology.[6] She has also served as an interviewer and oral historian on the same subjects, publishing long interviews with Herman Eisen[7] and Howard Schachman.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Sondra Schlesinger". Women in Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d "Sondra Schlesinger CV". Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine. Archived from the original on 28 June 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Obituary: Milton J. Schlesinger, professor emeritus, 89". Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. 2 November 2017.
  4. ^ Schlesinger, edited by Sondra Schlesinger, Milton J. (1986). The Togaviridae and Flaviviridae. Boston, MA: Springer New York. ISBN 9781475707854. {{cite book}}: |first1= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "Schlesinger, Sondra". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  6. ^ "About this Site". Viruses from Structure to Biology. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  7. ^ Eisen, HN; Schlesinger, S (2015). "Remembrance of immunology past: conversations with Herman Eisen". Annual Review of Immunology. 33: 1–28. doi:10.1146/annurev-immunol-111214-122349. PMID 25581308.
  8. ^ "Howard Schachman, University of California Professor of Molecular Biology: Discussions of His Research Over His Scientific Career From the 1940s Until 2010" (PDF). University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 25 August 2016.