Making Space in Science: Eleanor Hill Venning

With International Women’s Day recently marked on March 8, we take this opportunity to highlight a pioneer from our department’s history: Eleanor Hill Venning, a Montreal-born chemist whose work changed how we understand hormones and their role in health and pregnancy. In the 1930s, Venning developed new ways to measure hormone byproducts in urine, making it possible for scientists and clinicians to study reproductive biology with a precision that had not existed before. Eleanor Hill Venning (1933) and Elizabeth Rhoda Grant (1932) were the first medical scientists to be awarded PhDs in Experimental Medicine at McGill University. Venning later became one of only two women at the time to reach the rank of full professor in the Faculty of Medicine. When she retired in 1968, she became the first woman PhD medical researcher in the Faculty’s history to be named Professor Emerita. Venning helped make space for women in science at a time when that space was limited. Today, our department strives to support women physicians and scientists so that space can continue to grow. A belated happy International Women’s Day to the many women in our community who continue to shape medicine every day. Read the full article →