Ralph Isadore Dorfman, (1911 – November 19, 1985) was a Jewish American biochemist. His work on metabolism in pharmacology and the use of steroid hormones contributed to the development of the combined oral contraceptive pill.

Dr. Dorfman received his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois and a doctorate from the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

. After teaching at at several institutions, including Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, he became a director at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology

Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology

The Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research was a non-profit biomedical research institute based in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.-History:...

. While working at the Worcester Foundation he was a research consultant to the Syntex

Syntex

Laboratorios Syntex SA was a pharmaceutical company formed in Mexico City in 1944 by Russell Marker to manufacture therapeutic steroids from the Mexican yam....

 Corporation, starting in 1950. There he worked with chemists Carl Djerassi

Carl Djerassi

Carl Djerassi is an Austrian-American chemist, novelist, and playwright best known for his contribution to the development of the first oral contraceptive pill . Djerassi is emeritus professor of chemistry at Stanford University.He participated in the invention in 1951, together with Mexican Luis E...

, Luis E. Miramontes

Luis E. Miramontes

Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas , was a Mexican chemist known as the co-inventor of the progestin used in one of the first two oral contraceptives....

, and George Rosenkranz

George Rosenkranz

George Rosenkranz is a Mexican scientist in steroid research and a professional bridge player. He was born in Hungary, educated in Switzerland and lived in Mexico for 66 years...

 to develop the first publicly available birth control pill, released in 1960. Later in 1964, Dr. Dorfman joined Syntex full time, eventually serving as president of Syntex Research in Palo Alto, CA from 1973–1976.

Late in his career, Dr. Dorfman returned to academia serving as a visiting professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, 1967–1973, and finally as a consulting professor up to his death in 1985.