Ruth Shoer Rappaport, leading Wyeth scientist who researched vaccines, dies at 83

Ruth Shoer Rappaport, 83, of Wayne, one of the first female scientists hired by Wyeth Laboratories, whose work contributed to the development of vaccines for ailments including influenza, died Tuesday, April 28, of lung cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Rappaport was hired by Wyeth in the 1970s, when few women were on the staff. She rose to become senior director of clinical immunology and virology at Wyeth, previously known as American Home Products.

Most of her work was done at Wyeth’s facility in Radnor, although she was based at the drug company’s offices in Pearl River, N.Y., for a decade ending in the mid-2000s. The firm was acquired by Pfizer in 2009.

Her research contributed to development of vaccines that treat diseases including influenza, human rotavirus, adenovirus, and HIV. She also helped create vaccines that protect against E. coli and cholera.

She held patents for several growth hormones and cancer-binding molecules. She was included among the authors of nearly 60 scientific papers.

According to researchgate.com, some of her work dealt with the safety and efficacy of certain influenza vaccines in adults 60 and older; whether it was effective and safe to administer influenza vaccine to children at the same time as measles, mumps, and rubella; and whether it was effective and safe to give a certain influenza vaccine to healthy children along with oral polio virus doses.

She also explored whether a certain type of vaccine was effective and safe for influenza cases acquired by children in day-care facilities. Much of her published work dated from the 2000s. Some was done overseas, and other experiments were carried out by collaborating with medical centers in the United States.

In 2001, Dr. Rappaport hired Denise Rushworth to join her team in applied immunology and microbiology at Wyeth’s vaccine division.

“I reported directly to Ruth,” said Rushworth, of Jackson, N.J. “It wasn’t long before she became my mentor and friend. Every time I think of Ruth, I smile. She was an amazing woman.”

“Ruth, your brilliant scientific mind and love of art were equally matched by your wit and wonderful sense of humor,” Rushworth wrote in an online tribute. “I recall many conversations and teleconferences in your office where we laughed until we cried. You had a will of steel and a heart of gold."

The eldest daughter of Jennie Pearl and Irving Shoer, Dr. Rappaport was born and raised in Peabody, Mass. She graduated from Peabody High School and in 1959 from Vassar College, along with her twin sister. She studied at Yale University, earning a Ph.D. in 1967.

When not in the laboratory, Dr. Rappaport composed music and wrote poetry. She was a student of ballet and performed a dance created for her by the Polish choreographer Edmund Jakub Novak, who came to Philadelphia in 1960 to set up a dance studio.

She played piano, and regularly attended opera and performances of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She was a connoisseur of paintings, American pottery, furniture, and folk art.

Her twin, Patricia Shoer Goldman-Rakic, a neuroscientist, died in 2003. Sister Linda Shoer, founder and president of List Biological Laboratories in California, died in 1999. She is survived by many cousins.

Burial was Sunday, May 3, at Maple Hill Cemetery in Peabody.

Memorial donations may be made to the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra via https://pyos.org/support/make-a-gift/.