Rebecca Lancefield, formerly known as Rebecca Craighill, was born in Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, New York, on January 5, 1895. Her parents were William E. Craighill, a colonel in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Mary Wortley Byram, who was a descendant of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was known for advocating for smallpox vaccination.
Lancefield graduated from Wellesley College and in 1918 became a technical assistant at Rockefeller Institute. In 1925 she obtained a Ph.D. in immunology and bacteriology at Columbia University.
For over four decades, Rebecca Lancefield worked at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (currently known as the Rockefeller University). During this time, she gained international recognition as a leading expert in the field of streptococcal bacteria. She also created the classification system for streptococci that carries her name, and this system remains in use today.
CLASSIFYING STREPTOCOCCI
Good morning! I am Rebecca Lancefield and I will be presenting a classification system for streptococci