Jewel Plummer Cobb, PhD, was an American biologist and cancer researcher. She earned her MS from New York University in 1947, and her PhD with a focus on cell physiology in 1950. After graduation, Cobb became a fellow at the National Cancer Institute. She discovered that the drug methotrexate was an effective treatment for certain skin cancers, lung cancers, and childhood leukemia. This drug is still used in chemotherapy today. Cobb left research in 1969 to become a professor and academic administrator. She was the first Black Dean at Connecticut College and the first Black women president of California State University at Fullerton. Throughout her career, Cobb campaigned for more women and minorities to enter the sciences. She was elected to the National Institute of Medicine in 1974 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to the Advancement of Women and Underrepresented Minorities from the National Academy of Sciences.
