Sara E. Branham
1888 - 1962
Sara Branham, daughter of Sarah (“Sallie”) Stone and Junius Branham, granddaughter of Susan Bonnell Stone, was born in Oxford into a family ahead of its time concerning the belief in higher education for women. Like her mother and grandmother before her, Branham attended Wesleyan College, earning her B.S. degree in biology in 1907. Both of her grandfathers, Walter R. Branham and George W. W. Stone, taught at Wesleyan and at Emory in Oxford. At that time, women with college degrees did not have many career options beyond teaching primary or secondary school, which is what Branham did for a short time. She was teaching high school biology in Atlanta when World War I broke out. Suddenly, there was a shortage of men in the workforce due to so many being called into military service. Branham credited this circumstance for the career opportunity that opened up for her at the time. She was offered a teaching position at the University of Colorado teaching bacteriology to medical school students. From there, Branham’s intellect and abilities skyrocketed her to extraordinary career heights. While teaching at the University of Colorado, she earned a second BS degree in 1919, majoring in chemistry and zoology. After the war, Branham went to the University of Chicago, receiving her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in bacteriology as well as an MD degree, graduating magna cum laude.
In 1928, Dr. Branham joined the National Institutes of Health as a bacteriologist, a position she held until her retirement. While there, she accomplished the single greatest achievement out of her many accomplishments: her discovery of a successful treatment for spinal meningitis, a frightening new form of infectious disease that was sweeping across the United States at the time. Branham was the first to isolate the meningococcal microorganism that causes meningitis and develop an effective serum, finding a cure for what was previously thought to be an incurable disease. Her other discoveries include anti-toxins for diphtheria, dysentery, and psittacosis, and the classification of all varieties of micro-organisms.
In 1930, Dr. Branham represented the United States at the First International Congress for Microbiology held in Paris, and did so again at the Second Congress held in London in 1936. Dr. Branham was also a diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners, the American Board of Pathology, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Public Health Association, and the American Academy of Microbiology. She wrote over 70 papers published in professional journals in the fields of bacteriology and immunology, co-authored two books, and was contributor on a third.
Among her many awards and honors, Dr. Branham received the Howard Taylor Rickett prize for research in pathology, an honorary doctorate of science degree from the University of Colorado (bringing her total number of academic degrees to six), the first Outstanding Achievement Award ever awarded by Wesleyan College, and the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Chicago Medical School Alumni Association. In spite of her full and demanding career, she made frequent trips back to Georgia to encourage young people to pursue a career in public health.
Branham kept her maiden name professionally, however in her private life she was married to Philip S. Matthews. They are buried together in the Oxford Historical Cemetery.
In 1928, Dr. Branham joined the National Institutes of Health as a bacteriologist, a position she held until her retirement. While there, she accomplished the single greatest achievement out of her many accomplishments: her discovery of a successful treatment for spinal meningitis, a frightening new form of infectious disease that was sweeping across the United States at the time. Branham was the first to isolate the meningococcal microorganism that causes meningitis and develop an effective serum, finding a cure for what was previously thought to be an incurable disease. Her other discoveries include anti-toxins for diphtheria, dysentery, and psittacosis, and the classification of all varieties of micro-organisms.
In 1930, Dr. Branham represented the United States at the First International Congress for Microbiology held in Paris, and did so again at the Second Congress held in London in 1936. Dr. Branham was also a diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners, the American Board of Pathology, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Public Health Association, and the American Academy of Microbiology. She wrote over 70 papers published in professional journals in the fields of bacteriology and immunology, co-authored two books, and was contributor on a third.
Among her many awards and honors, Dr. Branham received the Howard Taylor Rickett prize for research in pathology, an honorary doctorate of science degree from the University of Colorado (bringing her total number of academic degrees to six), the first Outstanding Achievement Award ever awarded by Wesleyan College, and the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Chicago Medical School Alumni Association. In spite of her full and demanding career, she made frequent trips back to Georgia to encourage young people to pursue a career in public health.
Branham kept her maiden name professionally, however in her private life she was married to Philip S. Matthews. They are buried together in the Oxford Historical Cemetery.