The chemist who broke the isolation of leprosy

Countries & Cities · Published 13 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: For centuries, Hansen’s disease forced patients into brutal, lifelong quarantine. Then came a 23-year-old African American chemist who transformed a crude botanical oil into a life-saving injectable, allowing thousands to finally return home—even though she died before seeing the global impact of her work.

In 1915, Alice Ball became a pioneer at the College of Hawaii (now the University of Hawaii), becoming the first woman and first African American to earn an M.S. in chemistry there. At just 23 years old, she was appointed as the institution's first female chemistry instructor. Her primary research focused on Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, a condition that carried such severe social stigma it necessitated the forced isolation of patients in remote facilities like Kalaupapa on Molokai.

Ball's breakthrough involved chaulmoogra oil, a substance used in Chinese and Indian medicine for centuries. While effective as a topical agent, its high viscosity made it nearly impossible to administer via injection without causing painful skin lesions or severe nausea if ingested. By separating the oil's fatty acid constituents by varying molecular masses, Ball chemically transformed them into ethyl esters that dissolve in water. This innovation, known as the "Ball Method," allowed the treatment to be absorbed safely into the bloodstream.

Tragically, Ball died in 1916 at age 24 following a laboratory accident involving chlorine gas. In a common historical injustice, the college president, Dr. Arthur Dean, claimed her discovery for himself, branding it the "Dean Method." It wasn't until 1928 that assistant surgeon Harry T. Hollmann published a paper restoring her proper credit. The Ball Method remained a primary treatment for over thirty years until sulfone drugs were introduced in the 1940s.

Ball’s legacy was largely obscured for decades due to systemic racial and gender biases. It took until 2000 for the University of Hawaii-Mānoa to place a bronze plaque honoring her, and she was not posthumously awarded the Regents’ Medal of Distinction until 2007.

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