Elsie N. Ward was a microbiologist who contributed to the development of a polio vaccine through her work in Jonas Salk's Virus Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh.
[8] In a 1952 experiment, Ward cared for and assessed the test tubes containing monkey cells mixed with live poliovirus and blood from vaccinated individuals.
A color change from red to yellow indicated the presence of healthy cells in the test tube, and thus that the vaccine had produced antibodies in sufficient, protective amounts.
Ward discovered that the experiment was successful when she entered the lab early one morning in mid-September 1952 and saw the yellow dye within the tubes at her station.
[10] At that announcement, which Elsie Ward attended, Salk thanked some individuals but none of his team members at the Virus Research Laboratory.