SARAH KALSER, PH.D.

Sarah Kalser, recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999, has made great strides for women in medical research. Kalser became the first female grants administrator at the, then, National Institutes of Arthritis and Metabolic Disease (National Institutes of Health/NIH) in 1968 and later the first female program director at the National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in 1975. Kalser received a B.S. in Agricultural Biochemistry from Pennsylvania State University in 1951and a M.S. in Biochemistry from Northwestern University. In 1952, Kalser married and moved to Maryland where she worked as a technician at the Army Chemical Center. While a technician, Kalser developed an interest in atropine metabolism in an effort to find an antidote to the effects of nerve gas. Later, Kalser came to Pittsburgh with her husband, Ben. Here, she took a position as a research associate in the Department of Pharmacology at the School of Medicine but was encouraged by her supervisor, Dr. Lyle Beck, to pursue a Ph.D. Since the School of Medicine did not have a graduate program at the time, Kalser studied primarily in the School of Pharmacy.


		Sarah Kalser, recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999, has made great strides for women in medical research. Kalser became the first female grants administrator at the, then, National Institutes of Arthritis and Metabolic Disease (National Institutes of Health/NIH) in 1968 and later the first female program director at the National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in 1975. Kalser received a B.S. in Agricultural Biochemistry from Pennsylvania State University in 1951and a M.S. in Biochemistry from Northwestern University. In 1952, Kalser married and moved to Maryland where she worked as a technician at the Army Chemical Center. While a technician, Kalser developed an interest in atropine metabolism in an effort to find an antidote to the effects of nerve gas. Later, Kalser came to Pittsburgh with her husband, Ben. Here, she took a position as a research associate in the Department of Pharmacology at the School of Medicine but was encouraged by her supervisor, Dr. Lyle Beck, to pursue a Ph.D. Since the School of Medicine did not have a graduate program at the time, Kalser studied primarily in the School of Pharmacy.		Kalser received her Ph.D. jointly from the School of Medicine and School of Pharmacy in 1962 and shortly thereafter became a faculty member of the Department of Pharmacology. Kalser then secured a grant from the NIH in order to further her research in atropine metabolism. Today, Kalser’s body of work in atropine metabolism is recognized as a definitive source. In 1968, Kalser and her husband returned to Maryland where she began her 25-year career at the NIH. In her career at the NIH, she assisted grantees in the area of liver diseases and also administered a ten-year cooperative clinical trial on the medical dissolution of gallstones. Various accolades that Kalser has received for her achievements include the Distinguished Service Award from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the American Gastroenterological Association, the NIH Award of Merit, and the NIH Special Achievement Award. Presently, Kalser devotes her time to volunteer work for the blind and dyslexic and at a floral shop located in the NIH Clinical Center.


	SARAH KALSER, PH.D.