Photo of Maud Caroline Slye

Maud Caroline Slye

1869 - 1954
Genetics; Pathology
USA USA

Personal Information

Born: 1869

Died: 1954

Country of Birth: USA

Nationality: USA

Ethnicity: White

Education

University of Chicago 3 years undergraduate work & post-graduate work; Brown University AB 1899

""I breed out breast cancers. I don't think we should feel so hopeless about breeding out other types. Only romance stops us. It is the duty of scientists to ascertain and present facts. If the people prefer romance to taking advantage of these facts, there is nothing we can do about it.""

— Maud Caroline Slye

Professional Life

Field of Study: Genetics; Pathology

Institution/Corporation: University of Chicago; Sprague Memorial Institute

Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Degree: Brown University (1937); Member: Association for Cancer Research American Medical Association American Association for the Advancement of Science

Awards & Achievements

Awards: 1914 Gold Medal AMA; 1915 Ricketts Prize University of Chicago; 1922 Gold Medal American Radiological Society

Achievements: Work focused on the heritability of cancer in mice; advocated for the comprehensive archiving of human medical records; published 2 volumes of poetry

Her work centered on heritability of cancer in mice

"Invented" (really bred) genetically uniform mice as a research tool, breeding them herself; raised approximately 150,000 mice & kept their pedigrees

Was an advocate for the comprehensive archiving of human medical records

Spent most of her career at the University of chicago

Once went 26 years without a vacation because she didn't want to leave the care of her mice to anyone else

Published 2 volumes of poetry

Was the 1st to postulate certain types of cancer were inherited