Marjorie Nemes

Home / Innovator / Marjorie Nemes

Marjorie Nemes

November 1, 2017 | Written by

As one of the few female scientific researchers of the 1960’s and 1970’s, Marjorie Nemes made advances in the medical understanding of causes and possible preventions for numerous viruses including the common cold.  As a supervisor and research scientist for Bethlehem’s Merck Center for Therapeutic Research, Nemes served on the front lines of the medical revolution in motion during her career that led to an unprecedented global understanding of medicine and biology.

Marjorie Nemes, a Bethlehem native, lived and worked in the city for the majority of her life.  Graduating from Liberty High School in 1939 and St. Luke’s School of Nursing in 1942, Nemes’s intellectual curiosity drove her to push boundaries throughout her entire career.  For years, Nemes made bi-annual trips to the Amazon for ecological research in the name of medicine.  Late in her life, she made numerous expeditions to the Arctic.  A pioneer through both intellect and habit, Nemes lives on through her life-changing research and an endowment created in her name at Lehigh University.