Jessie Marmorston

Jessica "Jessie" Marmorston (1897 – October 21, 1980) was a Russian-born American physician, endocrinologist, and medical school professor.

Early life and education Marmorston was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, then a part of the Russian Empire, the daughter of Aaron Marmoston and Ethel Wark Marmoston. Her family was Jewish. She moved to the United States as a child, with her parents, and grew up in Buffalo, New York. She completed her medical degree at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine in 1924.

Career Marmorston served a bacteriology internship at the Montefiore Hospital in New York City. At Cornell University Medical College she worked as an immunologist with David Perla. In 1943, she became an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Southern California (USC). In 1953 she became professor of experimental medicine, and in 1957 clinical professor of medicine. She held attending physician privileges at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Los Angeles County Hospital.

While based in Los Angeles, Marmorston was the personal physician and daily confidante of studio head Louis B. Mayer. She parlayed her Hollywood connections to raise funds for USC scholarships.

Selected publications Marmorston's research focused on the interactions of hormones, mental health, heart disease, and cancer. Her work was published in academic journals including Science, Archives of Internal Medicine, Journal of Experimental Medicine, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, American Review of Tuberculosis, The Journal of Urology, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Journal of Clinical Psychology, and Cancer Research. A selection of articles and monographs written or co-written by Marmorston suggests the range of her studies: The Spleen and Its Relation to Resistance (1926, with David Perla) "The Effect of Splenectomy on Tuberculous Infection in Mice" (1937) "The Possible Role of Squalene as a Protective Agent in Sebum" (1956, with Harry Sobel) She had three daughters. One of her daughters married lawyer and diplomat Samuel Pisar. One of her granddaughters is married to financier Daniel Pinto. Jessie Marmorston died in 1980, in her late seventies or early eighties, in Los Angeles.