Ruth Ella Moore

Ruth Ella Moore (born 1903 in Columbus, Ohio. died 1994) was an American scientist who worked in the field of bacteriology. The main focus of her research was on blood grouping and enterobacteriaceae. She has the distinction of being the first African American woman to receive a doctorate degree in bacteriology.

She studied at the Ohio State University where she received a Bachelor of Science (1926), a Master of Arts (1927) and a Ph.D. in Bacteriology in 1933. During graduate school she supported herself by teaching English and hygiene at Tennessee State College (now Tennessee State University) in Nashville. For her thesis she worked on the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis which causes most cases of tuberculosis.

Dr. Moore worked from 1940 at the Howard University Medical College first as assistant professor and later as associate professor until she retired 1973. She headed from 1947 to 1958 the Department of Bacteriology being the first woman to chair a department at the college.