Women & Science Portrait Initiative

Marie Daly joined the Rockefeller Institute in 1948 after receiving her doctorate from Columbia University. She was the first Black woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry. Funded by a fellowship from the American Cancer Society, Dr. Daly worked with Rockefeller scientist A.E. Mirsky studying nuclear proteins until 1955. She later returned to Columbia, where she helped link hypertension and high cholesterol to a higher risk of heart attack. Dr. Daly joined the faculty of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1960. She was promoted to associate professor in 1971.

Dr. Daly graduated from Queens College before receiving her master’s degree in chemistry from New York University.
Her career honors include service as an investigator for the American Heart Association and an appointment to the prestigious board of governors of the New York Academy of Sciences from 1974 to 1976. In addition to her research, Dr. Daly was committed to increasing the number of minority students enrolled in medical schools. In 1988, she established a scholarship for minority students studying chemistry or physics at Queens College.