Bertha Bouroncle

Bertha A. Bouroncle Pereny (September 10, 1919 – August 13, 2013) was a Peruvian-American hematologist. After completing medical school in Peru, Bouroncle came to the United States for her postgraduate medical training. A longtime member of the faculty at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, she was the first investigator to identify hairy cell leukemia and the first female full professor in the state of Ohio.

In the 1980s, Bouroncle and two colleagues developed a drug to treat hairy cell leukemia. She was named a professor emerita at the medical school in 1989. Bouroncle died in 2013. She was predeceased by her husband Andrew Pereny, a businessman and erstwhile ceramic artist.

Early life Bouroncle was born in Trujillo, Peru. She was the fourth of five children in her family. Bouroncle, whose father Luis was a Harvard University alumnus, went to medical school at the National University of San Marcos. When she was not studying, Bouroncle gained experience by providing free medical care to fishermen in Pucusana.

Working with two junior colleagues the next year, Bouroncle identified a blood disorder known as hairy cell leukemia. She was named a full professor in 1970 and a professor emerita in 1989. She was the first female full professor of a medical school in Ohio. For many years, Bouroncle was on the medical staff of the Ohio State University Hospital. Among her colleagues, Bouroncle was noted for her commanding presence in spite of her small stature. Her associates said that she held trainees to very high standards without making them feel badly about themselves. She considered herself to be a shy person, but she found that she could open her heart to her patients.

Continuing her research with hairy cell leukemia, Bouroncle worked with Ohio State investigators Michael Grever and Eric Kraut in the 1980s to develop a treatment for the disease known as deoxycoformycin. She helped to found The James Cancer Hospital, which opened at Ohio State in 1990. She won several teaching-related awards at Ohio State.

Bouroncle funded the Bertha Bouroncle, MD, and Andrew Pereny Chair of Medicine at Ohio State. Outside of medicine, Bouroncle enjoyed the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

Later life Ohio State established the Bertha Bouroncle Distinguished Lecture Award in 2001. She died at the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital in 2013.