Ida Stephens Owens

Ida Stephens Owens (September 13, 1939 – February 24, 2020) was an American biochemist known for her work with drug-detoxifying enzymes. She received her Ph.D from Duke University in 1967, making her one of the first two African Americans to receive a doctorate from the school. She spent her career at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she worked from 1968 to 2017 and pioneered the study of the genetics of human diseases and drug metabolism.

Early life Ida Virginia Stephens Owens was born in the small town of Whiteville, North Carolina. She grew up in Newark, New Jersey. After graduating, she was employed as a laboratory assistant at a National Science Foundation Summer Institute for High School Teachers at North Carolina College, and she spent a summer in the lab of Daniel C. Tosteson in the Department of Physiology at Duke University. The Carolina Times, Durham's Black newspaper, published a front-page story about her graduation. In 1975, Owens began to lead her own independent research group at NIH NICHD within the Section on Drug Biotransformation, which later became the Section on Genetic Disorders of Drug Metabolism. Starting in 1988, Owens has directed NICHD's Section on Genetic Disorders of Drug Metabolism in the Program on Developmental Endocrinology and Genetics.

Scientific advancements Owens' postdoctoral work sparked her specific interest in a critical group of enzymes, called UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (abbreviated UGTs), which allow the body to detoxify harmful drugs, chemicals, and other toxins. Owens' laboratory found that activity of UGT enzymes can be lessened by kinase inhibitors and that protein kinase C and tyrosine kinase enzymes can alter the enzyme specificity, likely contributing to their ability to detoxify a wide range of foreign chemicals.

Honors Owens received the 1992 NIH Director's Award and, in 2013, the Duke University Graduate School's first Distinguished Alumni Award. In addition, in 2009, the American Asthma Foundation recognized Owens for being among the top 5% of cited authors in pharmacology journals.