HWS News
15 September 2025 • STEM On the Frontlines of Science and Medicine
The career-spanning insights of Dr. Joy H. Glaser '62, P’89, P’97, GP’19 will be highlighted with a campus lecture.
On Wed., Sept. 17, pediatrician, researcher, educator and pioneer in infectious disease, Dr. Joy H. Glaser ’62, P’89, P’97, GP’19 will share experiences from a decades-long career navigating scientific and societal frontiers: from approaching three epidemics, HIV, tuberculosis and congenital syphilis to ascertaining the root cause of a sometimes fatal infant liver disease, all while balancing motherhood with medicine in an era that provided little room to reconcile the two.
Dr. Glaser will speak at the Science Forum, hosted by Provost and Dean of Faculty Sarah Kirk at 7 p.m. in the Vandervort Room of Scandling Campus Center. The event is free and open to the public.
As Pediatric Infectious Diseases Doctor, Dr. Glaser treated patients with HIV, tuberculosis and syphilis. As a physician-scientist, she made groundbreaking discoveries, including that neonatal biliary atresia – a serious liver condition in newborns – could be acquired after birth and in many cases was linked to Reovirus type 3. Her work reshaped medical understanding and changed how physicians and health systems approach diagnosis and treatment.
In recognition of her pioneering efforts at the intersection of patient care, scientific discovery and public health policy, Dr. Glaser has received the American Liver Foundation Pediatric Research Prize and the Lewis Fraad Award for Excellence in Pediatric Teaching. Her story offers a powerful example of how research and compassionate care can come together to shape the future of medicine.
Dr. Glaser’s path to medicine began at William Smith, where she graduated cum laude in 1961 with degrees in chemistry and English, was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and served as a reporter for The Herald. She went on to New York University School of Medicine to earn her M.D. in 1965, at a time when women in medicine were still rare and often questioned about balancing family with a demanding profession. Glaser navigated both, raising four children while pursuing a distinguished medical and academic career.
After her training at Bellevue Hospital, she spent nine years working in the pediatric clinic at Beth Israel Medical Center, where she served as chief pediatric resident. Dr. Glaser completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she investigated neonatal biliary atresia.
Her career continued at Montefiore Medical Center, where she became head of the infectious diseases program and then Professor of Pediatrics at Albert Einstein, where she studied the treatment of TB in children and testing for syphilis in the mother as a predictor of congenital syphilis.
Dr. Glaser also confronted the HIV/AIDS epidemic in its earliest days, when fear and stigma dominated the public response. Her experience offers a rare perspective into how doctors adapt to new and frightening illnesses, and how compassionate care must accompany scientific investigation.
At the Science Forum, Kirk says questions will explore these experiences and the broader arc of Glaser’s career, including how the perception of vaccines has changed over her lifetime, what lessons she drew from treating HIV patients and how her research helped shape public health policy.
“Dr. Glaser offers a unique perspective on how medicine and science have evolved over the past several decades. At the Science Forum, we’ll talk about her experiences — from the changing role of vaccines to caring for patients during the early years of the HIV epidemic — and what those moments can teach us today,” Kirk says. “Bringing her back to campus at a time when we are looking ahead to the new Fish Center for the Sciences makes this conversation especially timely for our community.”
Dr. Glaser was for many years, a Trustee of Hobart and William Smith. Her return to campus highlights not only her professional achievements but also the enduring ties between scientific discovery and the liberal arts education that helped launch her career.
