Helen Guillette Vassallo is an American scientific researcher, educator, author, lecturer, and business leader noted for her contributions to the fields of physiology, pharmacology, and anesthesia.
In 1949, Vassallo graduated as the valedictorian from Attleboro High School in Massachusetts. [1] [2] While in high school, she won Honorable Mention in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. [1] [2] She went on to Tufts University to earn a Bachelor of Science in biology and a Master of Science in pharmacology. [3] In 1967, Vassallo earned her doctorate in physiology from Clark University. [1] A few years later, she received her Master of Business Administration degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). [3] [4] [5]
Vassallo was the second woman faculty member at WPI, and later was the second woman to be named full professor there. [3] [5] Vassallo spent 20 years in the private sector, joining Astra Pharmaceutical Products as a researcher, eventually becoming the director of scientific and professional information. [3] In 1967, while on loan from Clark University, Vassallo began teaching molecular biology as an adjunct professor in WPI's chemistry department. [3] [1] In 1982, Vassallo left the corporate world to join WPI as a full-time professor of management and an adjunct professor in the Biology Department. [1] She was the first woman to be elected secretary of the faculty, the highest faculty post at the university. [4] Vassallo was also an advisor to the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority, an advisor for freshmen women, and a mentor for new young women faculty members at WPI. [4] Additionally, she served as a member of the President's Council for the Advancement of Women and Minorities, chief justice of the Campus Hearing Board, and chair of the Committee of the Status of Women, established in 1996. [4]