By Martha Ewing ’26
Penicillin is a medication used to treat countless patients and has saved over 200 million lives. But not many know the history behind this life-saving drug and how it was first used on somebody much closer to home than we all might imagine.
Anne Miller was born in New York City and moved to Connecticut before getting married to Ogden D. Miller, who was the Athletic Director at Yale University at the time. While living in New York City, Ms. Miller earned a nursing degree at the Columbia University School of Nursing. Her husband, Ogden, became the sixth headmaster of the Frederick Gunn School, previously named The Gunnery, in January of 1946. During his time at the school, Mr. Miller doubled the size of the campus through the purchase of the Bourne estate, redesigned the school’s crest, and improved the school’s academic reputation. The Miller family was an integral part of the Frederick Gunn School’s history and the culture and community of Washington, Connecticut.
Before they moved to Washington, Connecticut, the Millers lived in New Haven, and Mr. Miller working as a Yale University administrator. In 1942, Anne Miller had a miscarriage, which was followed by a severe blood poisoning infection. She was in critical condition and was immediately admitted to the world-renowned Yale New Haven Hospital. At the time, before antibiotics had been discovered, hospital staff could only provide “supportive care,” which effectively included non-medical treatment routes such as pastoral care and basic comforts and necessities. Anne Miller hung on for four weeks with a persistent infection and very high fevers. She needed medical attention, and she needed it quickly.
Little did Mrs. Miller know that, meanwhile, in England, discoveries were being made about antibiotics. In 1928, upon return to his laboratory after a five-week vacation, Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming was cleaning up and noticed a petri dish riddled with mold. The original bacteria he had been growing in the dish was not growing around the mold, instead it was separated by a clear area. Fleming reasoned that the mold must contain something that killed off the bacteria. This discovery was revolutionary, but Fleming didn’t have the money to fund further research. Finally, after a ten-year hiatus, Fleming could team up with members of the University of Oxford, including Howard Florey, an Australian pharmacologist. The men worked on developing this drug, creating what is now known as penicillin. They managed to treat six patients with this antibiotic, with four surviving and two patients dying simply because they ran out of penicillin. World War II proved to be a hindrance to medical research and development. London was being bombed, and they had no option but to pass along their work to the United States. Howard Florey flew over to meet John Fulton of Yale University and shared his and Fleming’s research. The two became friends, and Florey even sent his kids to live in New Haven to escape the violence in London. This relationship became critical because it allowed penicillin to come to New Haven and be used for Anne Miller’s treatment. John Fulton became sick simultaneously as Anne Miller and Dr. John Bumpstead treated them both. Bumpstead was familiar with Fleming and Florey’s work on antibiotics and talked to Fulton about their work. He was frustrated by the lack of progress Miller was making, and decided to try a new approach. John Fulton made a phone call on a Thursday and by that Saturday, half of the entire United States supply of penicillin had been flown to New Haven. It is important to note that half of the whole United States supply of penicillin added up to a meager five grams. The antibiotic was administered to Mrs. Miller via an IV drip on Saturday afternoon. By Sunday, her fever had gone, and she was eating again by Monday, feeling much better.
This is an unbelievable story of the humble origins of such a widespread drug, and it all started here in Connecticut. Dr. Richard Martinello, Senior Physician and director of Infection Prevention at Yale New Haven Hospital, shared in an interview with Mike Allen on the podcast, Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut’s Beaten Path, “Mrs. Miller’s case was critically important to spur on further development because her condition was so dire and the success in her treatment was so rapid, that it provided the confidence that was necessary to demonstrate that antibiotics could truly be life-saving medications.” After moving to Washington, Connecticut, Anne Miller would live for another 57 years, outliving her husband and passing away in 1999 at the age of 90.
Citation: Allen, Mike, host “The Life-Saving Miracle at Yale New Haven Hospital” Amazing Tales from Off and On Connecticut’s Beaten Path (podcast). October 4, 2023. Accessed November 1st, 2023. https://open.spotify.com/show/6cReHDAPVuBD4OBCoVoIbg
