Alma Levant Hayden (March 27, 1927 – August 2, 1967) was an American chemist, and one of the first African-American women to gain a scientist position at a science agency in Washington, D.C.[1] She joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the 1950s.

[1][2] Hayden graduated from Howard University with a master's degree in chemistry, and became an expert in spectrophotometry, the measurement of how substances absorb light.

[1] Hayden came to national attention in 1963 when she led the team that exposed the common substance in Krebiozen, a long-controversial alternative and expensive drug promoted as anti-cancer.

[1] There had reportedly been a reluctance to employ African-Americans there because scientific officers may have to give testimony in courts, and there was concern about how this would be received in some parts of the U.S.

[1] In 1962 in the wake of the Thalidomide tragedy, the Kefauver Harris Amendment increased the FDA's role in ensuring drug safety.

[9][10] With these provisions in place, the FDA sought to identify the ingredients in Krebiozen, a controversial and expensive alternative cancer treatment.