Margaret Pittman Papers

Margaret Pittman was born on January 20, 1901 to James Pittman (an Arkansas country doctor) and Virginia Alice McCormick. She received her B.A. from Hendrix College (Arkansas) in mathematics and biology in 1923, her M.S. from the University of Chicago in 1926, and her Ph.D. in bacteriology from the University of Chicago in 1929. The 1918-19 influenza pandemic geared her studies toward respiratory infections. She went on to work as an assistant scientist at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research for six years (1928-1934). Here she made her first note-worthy contribution to bacteriology as she discovered that some strains of H. influenzae were capsulated, this led to the conclusion that H. influenzae type b was the most pathogenic and the production of an effective type-specific antiserum for treating meningitis.

From 1936 until forced retirement at age 70 in 1971 Pittman worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), first as a bacteriologist and later as the first female lab Chief of an NIH laboratory, the Laboratory of Bacteriological Products within the Division of Biologics Standards (1958-1971). Starting at the NIH, Pittman first worked with University of Chicago mentor Sara Branham on the potency assay of antimeningococcus serum, but when NIH moved from Washington, D.C. to Bethesda, MD in 1941 Pittman re-focused her research on H. influenzae again. In the war years Pittman was primarily interested in immunization and products for the armed services. During World War II she was concerned with the pyrogenicity of plasma and blood contamination and developing standards for the sterility of biological products.

Pittman is perhaps most noted for her contributions to understanding the whooping cough. In 1943 she was tasked with developing a potency assay for pertussis vaccine, an elusive challenge up until that point. Pittman experimented with the intracerebral route of challenge, and with the assistance of her colleague, Dr. Pearl Kendrick of the Michigan State Laboratories, developed a mouse protection test that became official in 1949. Pittman and Kendrick were also responsible for developing the opacity standard used in estimating the bacterial count of a vaccine which later became the International Opacity Reference Preparation. Her work on whooping cough did not cease after retirement for while working as a guest scientist at the University of Glasgow in 1977 Pittman developed the stunning hypothesis that Bordetella pertussis was a toxin-mediated disease. The pertussis toxin was identified as the cause of the persistent harmful effects of the vaccine, which has led to the development of new, safer vaccines.

Pittman was deeply involved with the problems of taxonomy and was a member of several international culture collections. First the genus Haemophilus and then the genus Bordetella when the pertussis bacteria was transferred to this genus in 1957, gained her attention and enthusiasm. She contributed several chapters to Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. Pittman is noted also for a study done on a conjunctivitis epidemic in the late 1940's in the Rio Grand Valley in Texas with Dr. D.J. Davis. They isolated the Koch-Weeks bacillus from the eye cultures and later identified the bacillus as Haemophilus aegyptius, distinct from what it had been identified with previously, Haemophilus influenzae.

Pittman was also connected with the standardization of the cholera vaccine. In 1958 she participated in developing the first international requirements with the WHO for biological substances- yellow fever and cholera vaccines. She was involved with SEATO-Pakistan Cholera Research Laboratory in Dacca, and served on the NIH Cholera Advisory Committee. She published several papers with J.C. Feeley in the 1960's on her cholera research.

While at the NIH Pittman was concerned primarily with the development of potency assays and the correlation of lab assays with human efficacy, especially in pertussis, typhoid and cholera vaccines. After retirement she was invited to remain as a guest worker with an office but without official responsibilities or pay. This freedom from administrative duties allowed her to travel and serve as consultant and guest scientist to a number of different countries and institutions, including the State Institute for Serum and Vaccine in Razi, Iran. She also served on several occasions as a WHO consultant and spent three months each in Cairo and Madrid.

During her prolific career Pittman was involved with a large number of panels on biological standardization: the WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization, the US Pharmacopeia Panel on Sterility and again with the Panel of Biological Indicators, the Commission on Immunization of the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, and the International Association of Biological Standardization to name a few. She was also a long-term member of several professional organizations such as the American Society of Microbiology (President, Washington Branch, 1949-1950), and Sigma Delta Epsilon, Graduate Woman in Science.

Pittman published over one-hundred scientific papers from 1930 to 1993 and was the recipient of numerous awards, including Federal Woman's Award in 1970, an honorary LL.D. from Hendrix College in 1954, a Superior Service Award in 1963 and a Distinguished Service Award in 1967 from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and a Professional Achievement Award from the University of Chicago Alumni Association.

Margaret Pittman died on August 19, 1995 in Cheverly, Arkansas.