Pearl Louella Kendrick (August 24, 1890 – October 8, 1980) was an American bacteriologist known for co-developing the first successful whooping cough vaccine alongside fellow Michigan Department of Public Health scientist Grace Eldering and chemist Loney Gordon in the 1930s.

[2] Kendrick and her colleagues also developed a 3-in-1 shot for diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus called the DTP vaccine which was initially released in 1948.

[3] Pearl Louella Kendrick was born on August 24, 1890, in Wheaton, Illinois, US, and suffered from whooping cough as a young child.

[4][1] Kendrick worked as a teacher in update New York, but continued her scientific education by studying bacteriology with Hans Zinsser at Columbia University in 1917.

[1][5] Kendrick graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1932[4] while simultaneously working at the Michigan Department of Public Health as an associate director and chief.

[6] After moving to Michigan for work and graduating from Johns Hopkins, Kendrick began to research whooping cough (pertussis) to try to solve the growing issue of the contagious disease.

[1] Eventually, the two used these samples to develop the whooping cough vaccine, which they gave to treatment groups during an experiment known as the Grand Rapids Trials.