4 Episodes

Revisiting the Pathologist in the Basement

This podcast is distributed by PRX and published in partnership with Scientific American. Season 1 art is by Marina Muun.

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May is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month and it’s also the birth month of Dr. Dorothy Andersen, the pathologist who first identified the disease in 1938.We’re revisiting our 2021 inaugural Lost Women of Science season in her honor.

A few important things have happened since we first aired The Pathologist in the Basement, and it’s safe to say that Dr. Anderson is now a little less lost. In late November 2021, Dr. Scott Baird, a pediatric critical care doctor at Columbia University, Dr. Anderson's own institution, published an exhaustive biography of her.

And in November 2023, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation changed the name of its highest scientific honor to the “Dorothy Andersen and Paul di Sant’Agnese Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award.”

This accolade was originally named in honor of just Dr. di Sant’Agnese, one of Dr. Andersen’s mentees. (You can learn more about their work together in Episode 2.) Dr. Andersen now receives equal billing, and we’d like to think we had something to do with that.

May 9, 2024
Revisiting | Dorothy Andersen

The Question Mark

We go back to the 1930s, when Dr. Andersen was confronted with a slew of confounding infant deaths...
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May 16, 2024
Revisiting | Dorothy Andersen

The Matilda Effect

Dr. Dorothy Andersen’s role in groundbreaking cystic fibrosis research fails to get the recognition it deserves. Our associate producer, Sophie McNulty, rummages through boxes in a Connecticut basement, looking for clues to Dorothy Andersen’s life story.
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May 23, 2024
Revisiting | Dorothy Andersen

The Case of the Missing Portrait

Hunting for a lost portrait of Dr. Dorothy Andersen highlights how the “dude walls” found at so many institutions shape our understanding of the past. The missing portrait of Dr. Andersen takes us on a journey into the perils of memorialization and who gets to be remembered.
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May 30, 2024
Revisiting | Dorothy Andersen

Breakfast in the Snow

Dr. Dorothy Andersen’s work paved the way for new treatments of cystic fibrosis that have turned a deadly disease into a treatable condition.
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We’re proud that our partners see the value of our mission, and are helping us reach engaged audiences as we tell the stories of these remarkable women.

PRX, our podcast distributor, produces and distributes audio content and trains talented independent producers.

With an award-winning portfolio of iconic public radio programs such as "The World”, “This American Life”, “The Moth Radio Hour”, “Latino USA”, “Snap Judgment” and “Reveal”, PRX is also home to a growing body of podcast productions, including via the Radiotopia podcast network and the TRAX podcast network for tweens.
SciAm covers the advances in research and discovery that are changing our understanding of the world and shaping our lives. Founded 1845, it is the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States and now reaches more than 10 million people around the world each month through its website, print and digital editions, newsletters and app.

Authoritative, engaging features, news, opinion and multimedia stories from journalists and expert authors—including more than 200 Nobel Prize winners—provide need-to-know coverage, insights and illumination of the most important developments at the intersection of science and society.
Barnard is one of the most selective academic institutions in the nation, Barnard College is devoted to empowering young women to pursue their passions. Throughout the 2021-22 academic year, Barnard is celebrating all things related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) at the College.

Barnard’s expert faculty, its symbiotic relationship with Columbia University, and its location in New York City makes it singularly positioned to offer unparalleled opportunities to women who will become tomorrow’s STEM leaders.

The College has also increasingly incorporated STEM curricula and programming into its liberal arts education, providing students with interdisciplinary knowledge and skill sets that they can carry beyond Barnard.