School in Indianapolis. He went on to study at his father's alma mater, the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, where his doctoral thesis was on cannabis. He graduated in 1907 with a degree as a pharmaceutical chemist and returned to Indianapolis to begin his career in the family business. Business career According to his biographer, James H. Madison, "Lilly was modest, unassuming, and quiet, yet under his placid exterior was an inquiring mind and abundant physical energy" and a man who "believed in hard work, all his life." As a boy, Lilly worked during school vacations at the family's pharmaceutical plant on McCarty Street in Indianapolis, where he washed bottles and did other tasks. He never thought of working anywhere else. After receiving a college degree in 1907, Lilly joined the family firm as the head and the only employee of the newly created Economic Department, where his job was to explore cost effective and more efficient ways to operate the business. In addition to studying the company's manufacturing processes, Lilly loved mechanical gadgets and introduced new manufacturing equipment to increase production, reduce waste, and improve quality. In 1909, Lilly was promoted to superintendent of the manufacturing division. Within two years he had brought new principles of scientific management to the company to improve efficiency and reward workers for meeting and exceeding production requirements. As the business expanded and modernized in the years preceding World War I, Lilly and his brother, Josiah K. Lilly Jr., continued to work in managerial positions, while their father remained as head of the growing company. In the 1920s and 1930s, Eli Lilly and Company experienced significant growth and financial success as it expanded research and product development efforts. Lilly was actively involved in major projects that brought the Indianapolis company to the forefront as a top research-based pharmaceutical manufacturer. Insulin, which the company produced and sold under the trade name of Iletin, was the result of a pioneering collaboration with University of Toronto research scientists. In May 1922, Lilly and the company's director of biochemical research, George Henry Alexander Clowes, met in Toronto with J. J. R. Macleod, Frederick G. Banting, and Charles H. Best, the scientists who had discovered insulin as an effective treatment for diabetes. The meeting resulted in an agreement between the university and the Indianapolis manufacturer to mass-produce and distribute the drug. Iletin became the most important drug in