Margaret Gladys Smith

Margaret Gladys Smith (10 February 1896 – 1 May 1970) was a pathologist who spent over forty years working at the Washington University School of Medicine. Perhaps best known for her work with the St. Louis encephalitis virus, she has also been referred to as a founder of pediatric pathology and the "mother of cytomegalovirus."

Early life and education Margaret Gladys was born in 1896 in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of machine shop foreman William Smith.

Career

Smith was hired as assistant professor of pathology by the Washington University in St. Louis in 1929, becoming on the second woman to hold that rank at the school. She was paid a salary of $3,250, promptly lowered when the Great Depression hit. Smith became an associate professor in 1943 and full professor in 1957. Smith conducted a series of key studies on the spread and elimination of the virus.

She and her junior colleague John M. Kissane are considered the founders of pediatric pathology. In 1967, they published the classic textbook on the field, the thousand page Pathology of Infancy and Childhood.

Smith retired in 1964.

Death and legacy Margaret Gladys Smith died of a heart attack in her home in Webster Groves, Missouri on May 1, 1970.