her career working in a Chiclet gum factory developing flavors after graduating with a chemistry degree from Hunter College. She took this job reluctantly after realizing the shortage of openings for females in chemistry-related careers. Shortly after joining the company, she encountered her first glass ceiling: male colleagues were making far higher salaries than their female counterparts. Guinan attempted to apply to graduate school for chemistry upon facing discrimination at work, but the schools did not accept females or did not aid in the financial burden the tuition imposed. She instead began a new career path after being accepted to the University of Texas at Galveston for a doctorate of physiology. In this time, she heavily considered pursuing a career in space-related endeavors as US space programs blossomed, but again faced obstacles. She learned females were not even allowed into the command room near the men in the space program out of fear of distraction. It was then she turned her sights on medicine. Smallpox eradication program member After completing her medical residency, Guinan joined a two-year training program with the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the CDC, and asked to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) on smallpox eradication. She was originally rejected as she learned the WHO was not accepting women, but later discovered it was India behind this decision. She threatened to write a letter to the prime minister, Indira Gandhi, who was a female herself, directly addressing the alleged ban. It was just a week later when she was accepted to the program. Guinan spent five months with a team in Uttar Pradesh, India, where she worked to identify locals suffering from smallpox and subsequently ring vaccinate those susceptible to the disease in the immediate area (generally a 10-mile radius from the infected individual). She worked out of a small mud hut and traveled by Jeep with a translator to accompany her on her endeavors. A reward of 10 rupees was provided to any local citizen able to look at a picture of smallpox and identify someone they knew who was suffering. This process assisted in administering vaccinations to those who were infected primarily, and then to their close circle; this is ring vaccination. Soon after Guinan returned to the U.S. to complete her program, Uttar Pradesh reached a zero infection rate. She continued these efforts in Pakistan in the 1980s, working with refugees. Sexually transmitted