Dorothy Hansine Andersen (May 15, 1901 – March 3, 1963) was the American physician and researcher who first identified and named cystic fibrosis.
[3] After receiving her MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1926, Andersen intended to pursue a career as a surgeon, but because she was a female doctor in the 1920s, she could not find a position as a surgical resident.
[citation needed] In 1929 she began teaching at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons as an assistant instructor in pathology.
[3] In 1935, she was awarded a doctorate in medical science from Columbia University for her dissertation, “The Relation of the Endocrine Glands to the Female Reproductive Cycle.
"[8] In 1935, Andersen, then a new assistant pathologist at Babies Hospital of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, began the research that would lead her to describe and name cystic fibrosis.
However, Andersen observed several pathological abnormalities not typical of celiac disease, including lungs clogged with thick secretions and fibrous cysts in the pancreas, which led her to investigate an alternative cause of death.
[citation needed] Looking for similar cases, Andersen collected records of other autopsies that cited celiac disease as a cause of death.
[10] Based on this research, Andersen described and named CF for the first time in a 1938 article published in the American Journal of Diseases of Children.
[13] In his “History of Cystic Fibrosis,” James Littlewood explains the significance of Andersen’s contribution: “[Her] 1938 publication resulted in CF being recognized as a specific entity.
In 1942, she described the first method for diagnosing the disease in living patients: a laboratory test evaluated the pancreatic juices secreted into the duodenum, which is the first part of the small intestine.
[13] Building on her first diagnostic test, Andersen theorized that newborns could be screened for the disease by measuring immunoreactive trypsinogen (an enzyme secreted by the pancreas) in the blood.
[15] Andersen noticed that the majority of these patients had CF and hypothesized that their susceptibility to heat exhaustion was related to a difference in their sweat.
Paul di Sant’Agnese, an author on both subsequent papers, often receives full credit for the research and development of the sweat test.
While the publication record shows that Andersen initially observed the difference in the sweat of CF patients, she also might have played a larger role in the development of the test.
She retrospectively published her results for general treatments, including a high-protein, low-fat diet, vitamin supplements, and replacement therapy for pancreatic enzymes.
[17] She also published a joint paper with di Sant’Agnese on the use of antibiotics for the lung infections that all CF patients experience.
Her research was so thorough that when surgeons set out to conduct the first open heart surgeries, they consulted with Andersen and referred to the specimens she had collected.
Others chopped wood for the stove.”[21] Andersen eschewed convention and was known for being unkempt, with a cigarette dangling from her lips, trailing a long ash, giving the impression of a doctor focused solely on her work.