Dorothy Hansine Andersen (May 15, 1901 – March 3, 1963) was an American physician, pediatrician, and pathologist who was the first person to identify cystic fibrosis, the first to describe the disease, and the one to name it. in 1939, she was awarded the E. Mead Johnson Award for her identification of the disease. In 2002, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Early life Dorothy Hansine Andersen was born in Asheville, North Carolina, on May 15, 1901. Her father, Hans Peter Andersen, died in 1914. She then assumed the full responsibility for caring for her invalid mother. After they had moved to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, Andersen's mother died in 1920. Education and initial career In 1922, Andersen was graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in zoology and chemistry from Mount Holyoke College. Later, she went on to attend Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where she first began to perform research under Florence Rena Sabin. Andersen's first two research papers were on the lymphatic and blood vessels in the reproductive organs of female pigs. Both of these papers were published in Contributions to Embryology. Upon graduation from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Andersen served as a teaching assistant in anatomy at the Rochester School of Medicine. A year later she became an intern for surgery at the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York. After completing her internship year, Andersen was denied a residency in general surgery at the hospital because of her gender. The denial drove Andersen to focus upon research. In 1929, she began working at Columbia University's College of Physician and Surgeons as an assistant in pathology. Later, she was asked to join the faculty as an instructor at Columbia Medical School. In order to further a research career, Andersen began to work on her doctorate degree in medical science by studying endocrinology at Columbia University. Specifically, she studied the influences of the endocrine glands on the onset and rate of sexual maturation in rats. By 1935, she received a doctorate from Columbia University. Focus on pathology She then became a pathologist at Babies Hospital at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. This is where Andersen remained for the rest of her medical career. In 1945, Andersen was given the title of an assistant pediatrician at Babies Hospital. Because of her knowledge of anatomy, she was called to become a consultant to the Armed