Elizabeth Lee Hazen

Elizabeth Lee Hazen (1885-1975), American microbiologist who, with American biochemist Rachel Fuller Brown, discovered nystatin—the first antibiotic found to be safe and effective for treating fungal infections, such as ringworm, in humans. Additionally, Hazen made many other significant contributions to the scientific study of disease-causing fungi, a field known as medical mycology.

Born in Rich, Mississippi, Hazen attended the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College (now the Mississippi University for Women), where she earned a bachelor of science degree in 1910. She received a master of science degree in bacteriology at Columbia University in 1917. Hazen worked at the United States Army diagnostic laboratories and as director of the Clinical and Bacteriological Laboratory of Cook Hospital in West Virginia before resuming her education at Columbia University, where she earned a doctoral degree in microbiology in 1927.

Hazen taught at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons from 1927-1931, then accepted a post as director of the Bacterial Diagnosis Laboratory in the Division of Laboratories and Research of the New York State Department of Health. Between 1958 and 1960, Hazen also held an associate professorship at Albany Medical College. After retiring from the New York State Department of Health in 1960, she acted as a consultant and guest investigator at the Columbia University Medical Mycology Laboratory until her death in 1973.

In 1948 Hazen teamed with Brown to search for a naturally occurring antifungal antibiotic. Their discovery of nystatin (named for the New York State Department of Health) was announced in 1950, and commercial production of the new drug, marketed as Mycostatin, began in 1954. Nystatin proved effective against fungal infections in humans, poultry, elm trees, and various plant products. By the time its patent expired in 1971, nystatin had earned $13 million in royalties, half of which went to the Brown-Hazen Fund for grants in scientific research. The fund was disbanded in 1978, but during its most active period it was the greatest source of funding for medical mycology in the United States.

Hazen’s other contributions to medical mycology include the classic reference text Laboratory Identification of Pathogenic Fungi Simplified, which she coauthored with American scientific illustrator Frank Curtis Reed in 1955. Hazen was also the first researcher in North America to link botulism E toxin to deaths caused by imported canned seafood. Hazen received numerous awards during her career, and in 1994 Hazen and Brown were inducted posthumously into the National Inventors Hall of Fame—the second and third women ever to receive this honor.