Enid Tribe Oppenheimer (1885 – 1966)[1] was a British physiologist. After becoming one of the first six women admitted as members of thePhysiological Society, she studied cardiology and thecarcinogenic properties of plastics atColumbia University.
Born Enid Muriel Simmons in 1885 to London architect William Simmons and his wife Louisa,née Johnstone,[2] she won a scholarship toBedford College, London in 1904, and gained a Class I pass in her BSc.[3][4] Her first husband was Joseph Tribe.[5]
After the death of her first husband, Tribe married American physiologist Bernard Sutro Oppenheimer in 1919 and returned to Columbia University with him.[9] She became instructor in physiology there from 1932 to 1956.[6]
At Columbia, she published on cardiology withMyron Prinzmetal[10] andAlvan Barach and instituted formal stress testing with Arthur Master,[11] but her most influential work was carried out with her husband andArthur Purdy Stout. While studying hypertension drugs, the team accidentally discovered a connection between plastics and tumours, and they turned to pursue further research on the carcinogenic properties of plastics at the Institute for Cancer Research at Columbia.[12][13] Their work was reviewed by the Plastics Committee of theManufacturing Chemists' Association; however, their concerns about the plastics were not fully implemented (the plastics were deemed 'non-toxic' and their carcinogenic nature was not addressed).[14]
In 1961, she was discovered to be the oldest living woman member of theAmerican Physiological Society (having been elected a member in 1932) and was unofficially elected 'Mother' of the Society, receiving a bouquet of flowers on Mothers Day.[6]
