Who is Dr. Annick Swenson from State of Wonder and what is their importance?

Dr. Annick Swenson is a doctor specializing in obstetrics and gynecology. Teaching at John Hopkins University earlier in her career, Swenson became known for her toughness, her quick, sharp tongue, and her power as a leader and mentor. Swenson began traveling with Dr. Rapp who studied the Lakashi tribe and their relationship to plants in the Amazonian jungle. As a byproduct, Swenson began to notice the high fertility rate of the Lakashi, and realized the potential for a fertility drug. She proposed the drug to Vogel, a pharmaceutical company in the US, and they began to fund her research. Unbeknown to them, Swenson was simultaneously developing an inoculation against malaria.