Madge Macklin

Madge Thurlow Macklin (February 6, 1893 – March 4, 1962) was an American physician known for her work in the field of medical genetics, efforts to make genetics a part of medical curriculum, and participation in the eugenics movement.

Early life and education The fourth of five children born to Margaret De Grofft and William Harrison Thurlow, Madge Thurlow was born in 1893 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. William Thurlow was an engineer and his influence on Madge's academics showed throughout her persistent interest in sciences and maths. While Macklin was still in grade school, her family relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where she attended public schools and began studying calculus by age 12. While in school, Macklin was a part of a number of sororities that were academic based. She was a part of Sigma Xi (ΣΞ); which is a scientific research society, Sigma Delta Epsilon (ΣΔΕ); a scientific women's sorority, and Alpha Gamma Delta (ΑΓΔ); a fraternity that encourages academic achievement.

Family Madge's husband, Charles Clifford Macklin, did not have the same upbringing as she did, he was raised on a farm outside of Toronto, Ontario, and had to forfeit his education at the age 14 because his help was needed on his parents’ farm. However, in 1908 he began studying at the University of Toronto Medical School, which he graduated from in 1914. Also in 1914, he wrote a description of the skull of a human fetus which Franklin P Mall was very impressed by. Based on this description, Mall invited Charles to Johns Hopkins University to work with him, which is where he met Madge.

When they met, Charles was a new instructor in the anatomy department and Madge was in her freshman year. Their relationship blossomed throughout Madge's time at the university. In her final year at Johns Hopkins University, Madge Thurlow married Charles Clifford Macklin on September 17, 1918. Later in 1921, Madge, Charles, and their two daughters moved to Canada, and Madge became a part-time instructor of histology and embryology at the University of Western Ontario. She remained in this position until 1930 when she became a part-time assistant professor.

Medical genetics During her time at the University of Western Ontario, while she was studying medical genetics, Madge Macklin advocated for introducing medical genetics into medical curriculum. She wanted genetics to be taught in terms of medical diseases not just in terms of genetic expression and insisted that it be taught by a medically trained individual rather than a geneticist. Due to her advocacy for medical genetics, she was titled the "founding mother" of it. In 1930, while she was still at the University of Western Ontario, Macklin was involved in founding the Canadian Eugenics Society whose committee she served on from 1932 to 1935 and was director of in 1935. Macklin was also a part of the American Society of Human Genetics, serving as its president in 1958.

She was fired from the University of Western Ontario in 1945 and shortly after leaving she received National Research Council funding to work at Ohio State University. Her husband and children stayed behind in Ontario to pursue her research at Ohio State University. However, once she was in an environment that gave her adequate support and respect, Macklin began to conduct cancer research in terms of medical genetics which ended up being the main focus of her career. By the early 1930s, Macklin had begun to focus her medical attention on hereditary diseases. Since few of these had therapies, often the only viable medical intervention was prevention; i.e., stopping "defective" people from reproducing. Medical genetics, in her mind, was thus tantamount to negative eugenics. She advocated eugenic approaches to many diseases, from cancer to schizophrenia.

Honors, awards, and memberships

McLane Lecturer, Goucher College (1937) Gibson Memorial Lecturer (1942) Elizabeth Blackwell Award (1957) Richards Memorial Lecturer, Ontario Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation (1958) President, American Society of Human Genetics (1959) American Association for the Advancement of Science Association of Anatomists Canadian Genetics Society Human Genetics Society Physiologists' Society Society of Naturalists