 Outside of toxicology , McConnell did extensive laboratory work . In the 1930s and 1940s she undertook personal research into passive immunity and developed serums for scarlet fever , polio , the common cold and acne for use on family members . While working for otolaryngologist Harry Baum , she invented a hair rinse which Baum called " Noreen " that was produced until the 1990s . In 1941 , she was appointed director of the laboratory department of the Colorado State Board of Health , and she later founded Denver General Hospital 's School for Medical Technologists in order to train new workers , especially women . She enrolled in an advanced serology training program at the University of Michigan in 1941 and went on to study surgical pathology at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago in 1943 . Following her term at Cook County , she resigned from the Board of Health and accepted a role at St. Luke 's Hospital in Denver as a laboratory director and pathologist . She was forced to leave St. Luke 's in 1944 due to illness , and after recovering she returned to Denver General Hospital as its laboratory director . She continued to work on criminal cases between other jobs until 1948 . 
