Pearl Kendrick

Pearl Louella Kendrick (August 24, 1890 – October 8, 1980) was an American bacteriologist known for co-developing the first successful whooping cough vaccine alongside fellow Michigan Department of Public Health scientist Grace Eldering and chemist Loney Gordon in the 1930s. In the decades after the initial pertussis vaccine rollout, Kendrick contributed to the promotion of international vaccine standards in Latin America and the Soviet Union. Kendrick and her colleagues also developed a 3-in-1 shot for diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (also called the DTP vaccine), which was initially released in 1948. She graduated high school in 1908 and attended Greenville College for a year before transferring to Syracuse University. In 1914, she received her B.S. in Zoology from Syracuse.

Whooping cough vaccine research Kendrick moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan and became focused on researching whooping cough, a contagious disease caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis that was responsible for killing an estimated 6000 people annually in the U.S., almost entirely children. Kendrick worked at the Western Michigan Branch Laboratory of the Michigan Department of Health. It was there that she met Grace Eldering, a fellow scientist at the Department who also had an interest in developing a pertussis vaccine. The pair conducted door-to-door field research where they took samples from sick children in the Grand Rapids area. Their work contributed significantly to the development of cough plate diagnostics. The collaborative nature of their work within the bacteriological research community and their partnerships with the Grand Rapids public health community are recognized as an important contribution to vaccine research and public health.

Further research and modern implications In the following years, Kendrick, Eldering, and Gordon developed a vaccine for diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT vaccine).

In 1951, Kendrick retired from the Michigan Department of Public Health. After retiring, she became a faculty member at the University of Michigan's Department of Epidemiology. She retired from the university in 1960. Kendrick served as president of the Michigan American Society for Microbiology.

Later life and death

Kendrick and Grace Eldering shared a house in Grand Rapids and attended Fountain Street Church. She died on October 8, 1980, in Grand Rapids.

Kendrick, alongside Eldering and Gordon, are honored with a statue titled Adulation: The Future of Science at the Michigan State University Research Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The statue, designed by Jay Hall Carpenter, is part of the city's Community Legends Project, which seeks to build statues honoring prominent Grand Rapids figures.