Asima Chatterjee

When Dr. Asima Chatterjee was growing up in Calcutta in the 1920s and 1930s, it was almost unheard of for a woman to study chemistry. But that didn't stop the determined young woman - she not only completed her undergraduate degree in organic chemistry, but she also went on to receive a Doctorate of Science, the first woman to do so in India. Dr. Chatterjee primarily studied the medicinal properties of plants native to India. Throughout her career, her research contributed to the development of drugs that treated epilepsy and malaria. Dr. Chatterjee's most noted contribution to the field, however, was her work on vinca alkaloids. Alkaloids are compounds made from plants, often to treat medical ailments. Vinca alkaloids, which come from the Madagascar periwinkle plant, are used today in chemotherapy treatment because they help slow down or stall the multiplying of cancer cells.