Born in 1892, Ball became the first woman to graduate from what would become the University
of Hawaii with a master's degree in science. She was clearly a talented chemist, especially interested in using oil from the chaulmoogra tree
as a potential cure for leprosy. Although it had been used topically to treat many conditions for hundreds of years, she suspected it would be more
effective if it could be injected — and she was right.
After becoming an instructor at the university (the first Black woman to hold such a position),
she isolated compounds from the oil for the first time that allowed it to be made into an injectable drug. It was then used as a leprosy treatment until
the 1940s when other drugs were developed. Unfortunately, Ball died in 1916 and was, therefore, unable to witness the impact her work had on the medical
field. In 2000, the University of Hawaii honored Ball with a bronze plaque mounted next to the campus' only chaulmoogra tree.
Learn more about Alice Ball…