Leeman, a professor of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics at Boston University who is credited with the discovery of two major peptides, sums it up succinctly: "Women do have a more difficult time than men."
The five-year-old Women's Excellence in Science Award was presented by FASEB on March 31 at the Experimental Biology '93 meeting in New Orleans. Accompanying the honor was a $10,000 research grant from the Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co. Former winners of the award include University of California, Berkeley, immunologist Marian Koshland and Harvard Medical School cytologist Elizabeth Hay.
Leeman received her B.S. in physiology from Goucher College in Towson, Md., in 1951 and her Ph.D. in medical science from Radcliffe College in 1958. She is credited with the discovery of two peptide neurotransmitters, substance P and neurotensin, which are amino acid chains that assist in communication between nerve cells and sometimes act as hormones.
Leeman began ...
