[1] She was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Institute of Medicine.

[3] Kirschstein was born to a family of Russian Jewish descent in Brooklyn, New York in 1926.

[3] She was married for 59 years to Alan S. Rabson, a pathologist and a deputy director of the National Cancer Institute.

[1][7] Kirschstein's only child, Arnold B. Rabson, was born in 1955, the year she and her husband arrived at the NIH.

[1] At NIGMS, she raised the profile of the institute, persuading Congress to dramatically increase funding of basic medical science research.