Elise Ann Brandenburger Brown

Elise Ann Brandenburger Brown, PH.D., DAPT, (“Ann”) died at her home in McLean, VA on January 4, 2021. Brown, born in Jacksonville, FL, had lived in the Washington DC area since the 1940s, and graduated from Washington & Lee High School in Arlington. Brown was one of the first women who earned a Ph. D. in pharmacology at George Washington University in the late 1940s. After doing research at the McCullum Pratt institute at Johns Hopkins, she began work at N.I.H. At N.I.H. in Bethesda, MD, Brown had been a research pharmacologist. During this time at N.I.H. she became a private pilot, and was a member of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) going on search missions to find downed pilots in the Eastern U.S. She thus joined the 99s. Brown’s research ranged from studying the effects of drugs on nudibranchs, skates, rays, sharks, and rats. Dr. Brown gave presentations at U.S. and foreign pharmacology conferences, and devoted her energies to local and international chemical societies, serving as President of the Washington, DC Chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and honored as a DABT (Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology). As a research pharmacologist at N.I.H. Brown successfully sued N.I.H. for sex discrimination in 1978 as part of a class action suit she filed with two (2) other female scientists who proved in federal court that they, along with other female scientists, were paid substantially less than male counterparts with the same experience and performing the same job. After working at N.I.H., Brown worked as a Toxicologist, with the Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA, in 1979-2003. She planned the national monitoring programs for residues in meat and poultry, and assessed risk for accidental contamination of meat and poultry for USDA guidelines. Brown was predeceased by her husband, Arthur Brickman Brown, M.B.A. (“Brick) of McLean, VA. Brown is survived by three sons: Barron of Burnsville, NC, Terrence of McLean, VA and Roderick of McLean, VA. A Memorial Service will be held in Spring 2022. The family requests no flowers, please. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Lewinsville Presbyterian Church, McLean, VA for the Cemetery Fund.