Helen M. Free

Helen Free begins the interview with a discussion of her family and childhood growing up in Ohio. Free attended Poland Seminary High School in Ohio. She was greatly influenced by her English teacher at Poland and she thereon intended to become an English and Latin teacher. In September 1941, Free entered the College of Wooster. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of the same year, many young men either joined or were drafted into the armed forces, which forced them to leave academics behind. Because of this, Free's housemother encouraged female students to pursue careers in science. Without reservation, Free switched her major to Chemistry in which she recieved her B.S. in 1944. After graduation, Free immediately began working as a control chemist with Miles Laboratories. In 1946, she moved into the new biochemistry department at Miles, where she worked for her future husband, Alfred Free. She first researched assays of antibiotics before moving to dry reagent test systems. Working with tablets, Free helped develop tests to detect abnormal levels of bilirubin, glucose, ketone, and protein in urine. Later, Free worked with her husband to move the tests from tablets to strips, introducing Clinistix® in 1956. Several other testing strips were developed and added to the market, including Uristix®, Ketostix®, Dextrostox®, Labstix®, and a still-current product, Multistix®. When Bayer Corporation acquired Miles Laboratories, Free stayed with the company, moving into the Growth and Development Department, then becoming Director of Specialty Test Systems. Free formally retired in 1982, but continues to work as a consultant for Bayer Corporation's Diagnostics Division. Free served as the president of the American Chemical Society in 1993 and continues to be involved with the organization. Free is also affiliated with the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, Inc. and remains involved in several chemistry awareness programs, including the International Chemistry Celebration, National Chemistry Week, National Science and Technology Week, the National Chemical Historical Landmark Program, and Medical Laboratory Week. Free concludes the interview with a discussion of her children and thoughts on the National Registry in Clinical Chemistry.

Miles Laboratories, Inc.

1944 - 1946 Control Chemist

Miles Laboratories, Inc.

1946 - 1959 Research Chemist, Biochemistry Section

Miles-Ames Research Laboratory

1959 - 1964 Associate Research Biochemistry and Group Leader

Ames Research Laboratory

1964 - 1966 Ames Product Development Laboratory

Ames Research Laboratory

1966 - 1969 Ames Technical Services

Ames Research Laboratory

1969 - 1974 New Products Manager, Chemical, Medical or Clinical Test Systems

Ames Growth and Development

1974 - 1976 Manager, Microbiological Test Systems

Ames Growth and Development

1976 - 1978 Director, Specialty Test Systems, Ames Company

Ames Growth and Development

1978 - 1979 Director Clinical Laboratory Reagents, Research Products Division

Ames Growth and Development

1979 - 1982 Director, Marketing Services

Indiana University at South Bend

1977 Adjunct Faculty

Miles, Inc./Bayer Diagnostics

1982 Professional Relations Consultant

James J. Bohning

James J. Bohning is professor emeritus of chemistry at Wilkes University, where he was a faculty member from 1959 to 1990. He served there as chemistry department chair from 1970 to 1986 and environmental science department chair from 1987 to 1990. Bohning was chair of the American Chemical Society’s Division of the History of Chemistry in 1986; he received the division’s Outstanding Paper Award in 1989 and has presented more than forty papers at national meetings of the society. Bohning was on the advisory committee of the society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program from its inception in 1992 through 2001 and is currently a consultant to the committee. He developed the oral history program of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and he was the foundation’s director of oral history from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998, Bohning was a science writer for the News Service group of the American Chemical Society. He is currently a visiting research scientist and CESAR Fellow at Lehigh University. In May 2005, he received the Joseph Priestley Service Award from the Susquehanna Valley Section of the American Chemical Society.