Elizabeth Barrett-Connor

Elizabeth Louise Barrett-Connor (April 8, 1935 – June 10, 2019) was Chief of the Division of Epidemiology and Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Diego. She investigated the role of hormones in pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis.

Early life and education Barrett-Connor was born in Evanston, Illinois. She was the only child of Florence Hershey and William Barrett. Her father was a chemical engineer, and working in ammunition companies. Barrett-Connor studied zoology at Mount Holyoke College and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1960 she earned her medical degree at Cornell University, before completing her internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Her early work studied the diarrhea of United States students in Mexico. Barrett-Connor was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral researcher at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. For the study, Barrett-Connor recruited people from Rancho Bernardo, and studied the connection between lipids and heart disease. As of 2011, one third of the participants still reported on their health, and half still have health tests at the Bernado Center Drive Clinic. It included innovative techniques to assess bone density, demonstrating that low calcium can result in hip fracture. She also showed that smoking during middle age can result in osteoporosis, and that drinking coffee can result in low bone mineral density.

Alongside RBS, Barrett-Connor led the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study. She was also interested in overlooked issues in men's health, including osteoporosis, and was involved with the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study and Testosterone Trials. 1994 American College of Physicians James D. Bruce Memorial Award 1995 National Institutes of Health Florence Mahoney Lecture 2003 Cornell University Medical College Alumni Association Award of Distinction 2003 Endocrine Society Clinical Investigator Award 2004 Awarded an honorary doctorate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) 2009 National Osteoporosis Foundation Living Legacy Award 2009 American Heart Association Distinguished Scientist Award 2011 American Heart Association Population Research Prize 2012 Endocrine Society Mentoring Award 2013 International Academy of Cardiology Distinguished Fellowship Award 2013 Women in Epidemiology, Epidemiology and Prevention Mentoring Award 2018 Endocrine Society's Fred Conrad Koch Lifetime Achievement Award

The American Heart Association hold a series of Elizabeth Barrett-Connor research awards in her honour. She has previously served as the President of the American Public Health Association, the American Epidemiological Society, the American Heart Association Epidemiology Council and the Society for Epidemiologic Research.

Personal life Barrett-Connor was married to James Connor, a paediatrician at the University of California, San Diego. She had three children, Jonathan, Caroline and Steven as well as two-step children, James-Davis and Susan. Barrett-Connor died on June 10, 2019.