Jane Hinton

Dr. Jane Hinton (1919–2003) was a pioneer in the study of bacterial antibiotic resistance and one of the first two African-American women to gain the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (1949).^[1] Prior to her veterinary medicine studies at the University of Pennsylvania, she had been a laboratory technician at Harvard, co-developing the Mueller–Hinton agar, a culture medium that is now commonly used to test bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics.^[2][3] She later practiced as a small animal veterinarian in Massachusetts, and then as a federal government inspector investigating disease outbreak in livestock for the Department of Agriculture.^[1]

Jane Hinton
Born	(1919-05-01)May 1, 1919
Died	April 9, 2003(2003-04-09) (aged 83)
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania
Known for	Co-developer of Mueller–Hinton agar Joint first African-American woman Doctor of Veterinary Medicine

Early life and education

Jane Hinton was born on May 1, 1919.^[4] Her father, William Augustus Hinton (1883–1959), was a bacteriologist and pathologist who was an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of syphilis, including the development of tests for syphilis.^[5] The son of former slaves,^[6] he was the first African-American professor at Harvard University and the first African-American author of a textbook. He entered laboratory medicine because racism in Boston prevented him from gaining an internship in medicine.^[7] Jane Hinton's mother was Ada Hawes (b. 1878), a high school teacher and social worker, born in Georgia.^[8][9][10] William and Ada married in 1909,^[7] and had two daughters, Jane and Ann Hinton Jones.^[4][11] As a child, Jane attended school in Europe, where her parents believed she would have the best education available as a black student. She returned to the United States to complete high school at Montpelier Seminary in Vermont in 1935, before earning her undergraduate degree at the age of 20 from Simmons College in 1939.^[12]

Career

 

Colonies of Burkholderia pseudomallei on Mueller–Hinton agar after 72 hours incubation.

Prior to her veterinary career, Jane Hinton worked in a laboratory in the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology at Harvard University, where she co-developed the Mueller–Hinton agar with John Howard Mueller.^[3] This agar was a medium developed to isolate the Neisseria bacteria that caused gonorrhea and meningogoccal meningitis.^[13] Mueller and Hinton discovered that starch within the agar helped aid bacterial growth and prevented bacteria toxins from interfering with antibiotic testing.^[13] It became the most widely used culture medium for Neisseria. In the 1960s, tests indicated its suitability for detecting whether bacteria are susceptible to antibiotics.^[2] The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, which establishes the best international laboratory standards, adopted the Kirby–Bauer technique using Mueller–Hinton agar as the gold standard for antibiotic testing.^[13]

During World War II, Hinton also worked as a lab technician in Arizona.^[14] After the War, Hinton studied veterinary medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, gaining her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (VMD) degree in 1949. She and Alfreda Johnson Webb, who graduated with a VMD from the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) that year, were the first African-American women veterinarians.^[1] There had been only four African-American VMD graduates at the University of Pennsylvania before Hinton gained her degree, and there would not be another until 1968.^[15] Hinton and Webb were also the first African-American members of the Women's Veterinary Medicine Association.^[16]

After gaining her degree, Hinton practiced as a small animal veterinarian in Canton, Massachusetts, and then a federal government inspector in Framingham, Massachusetts, where she worked to combat disease outbreaks in livestock.^[1]

Jane Hinton, together with John Taylor, the first African-American graduate of the University of Pennsylvania veterinary medicine school, were honored during the school's centennial celebrations by the Minority Veterinary Students association in 1984.^[17]

Jane Hinton retired in 1960 and died at the age of 84 on April 9, 2003.^[18]

References

1. Smith, Jessie Carney (2013). Handy African American history answer book. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1578594887. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
2. "Product Information and Quality Control Sheet: Mueller Hinton Agar" (PDF). Health Link. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
3. Mueller, J. H.; Hinton, J. (October 1, 1941). "A Protein-Free Medium for Primary Isolation of the Gonococcus and Meningococcus". Experimental Biology and Medicine. 48 (1): 330–333. doi:10.3181/00379727-48-13311. S2CID 84378770.
4. Harvard College (1920). Harvard College Class of 1905 Fourth Report. Plimpton Press. p. 155.
5. ASM.org. Archived from the original on June 10, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
6. Decker, Ed. "William Augustus Hinton 1883–1959". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
7. Gates Jr., Henry Louis; Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks, eds. (2004). African American Lives. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199882861.
8. Who's who in Massachusetts. Larkin, Roosevelt & Larkin. 1940. p. 384. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
9. Adams, Myron Winslow (1918). General Catalogue of Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia: 1867-1918. Atlanta University Press. p. 45. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
10. Tucker, Cynthia Grant (2010). No silent witness the Eliot parsonage women and their Unitarian world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-0199780143. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
11. "Dr. William A. Hinton dies; led fight against syphilis". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. August 9, 1959. p. 8. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
12. Mitchell, Erica. "Dr. Jane Hinton: Co-Developer of Mueller-Hinton Agar". blog.eoscu.com. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
13. Calidas, D. (October 13, 2017). "How Jane Hinton cultivated gonorrhea and saved us from antibiotic resistant bugs". Medium. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
14. "Celebrating Black History Month". College of Veterinary Medicine. Michigan State University. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
15. "Horizons Unlimited - The years 1952-1973". Penn Vet History. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
16. Kahler, Susan C. (October 1, 2013). "Women's organization nurtured, influenced". JAVMA News. PMID 24175358. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
17. "Centennial Year Affairs". Bellwether. Vol. 1, no. 12. University of Pennsylvania. Summer 1984. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
18. "Deaths". Bellwether. Vol. 1, no. 56. University of Pennsylvania. Spring 2003.