Journal of Medical Biography最新文献

Dr Kadambini Bose Ganguly, BA, Graduate of Bengal Medical College (GBMC), LRCPE, LRCSE, LRFPSG, a woman of many firsts, defied social criteria to become one of the first women to graduate in medicine in India in the nineteenth century. She was also the first Indian female to pass an entrance examination to a medical school in India. Dr Ganguly went on to become the first Indian woman to graduate and practise Western medicine in India, and remains an important symbol of women's empowerment in India. She understood the struggles that women faced, supported the education of fellow female students and promoted childcare for working women. She demonstrated that a woman could perform responsibilities in both the professional and domestic domains. Dr Ganguly paved the path for the success of other women and helped achieve female representation in the delivery of healthcare. This paper examines her life and work for women's empowerment and medical education.

The understanding of the immunobiology of human milk is primarily a 20th-century phenomenon, but, even with our contemporary understanding, it remains a bit of a mystery. Breastfeeding of human milk, although the most obvious and natural form of nutrition for human infants, has been hindered by cultural and societal norms since ancient times. Thus, not all infants have experienced the advantages this form of nutrition may offer. Although these advantages have been anecdotally suggested since ancient times, it was only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that the superiority of human milk was scientifically documented. The underlying immunobiological properties of human milk underpinning its observed superiority only became appreciated with advances in immunology that occurred in the mid to late 20th century. Armond S. Goldman (1930-2023) was in the vanguard of those promoting and developing an understanding of the immunobiology of human milk and its superiority in promoting the health of human infants.

British-born Dr Edward Waldegrave Wardley (MRCSL, 1842) is an unacknowledged pioneer in the history of mental health care in Australia. Between 1857 and 1872, he assisted in the development of a policy of non-restraint across lunatic asylums in New South Wales (NSW). He then went on to extend this approach to the treatment of NSW's criminally insane patients. In addition, he trialled experiments to intellectually engage educated psychiatric patients across the colony. A prolific writer, and sufferer of chronic depression, Dr Wardley serves as a unique example of a nineteenth-century alienist with lived experience of mental illness.

Elinor Catherine Hamlin (1924-2020) was a world-renowned Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist who dedicated almost her entire adult working life to eradicating obstetric fistula in Ethiopia. Leaving behind a comfortable life in Sydney and later Adelaide, she travelled with her husband Reginald Hamlin (1908-1993) to Addis Ababa in 1959, with the view to working there for three years and helping set up a midwifery school at the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital. But the couple ended up spending the rest of their lives in Ethiopia, where they revolutionised maternal healthcare services and standardised best practice measures for fistula patient care. In 1975 they jointly opened the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital - at that time the only operating specialist fistula hospital in the world - which was destined to become a global centre of excellence in obstetric fistula surgery. Today the hospital carries on Catherine Hamlin's legacy as one of Sydney's most impactful medical graduates on the world stage.

Alice Alanna Cashin (1870-1939) was a pioneering Australian nurse whose career spanned both conflict and humanitarian service. Born to Irish immigrants in Australia, Cashin trained at St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, before expanding her expertise in London and joining the British Red Cross during World War I. Her service included critical roles in France and Egypt, and she was eventually promoted to 'seas-matron' on the HMHS Gloucester Castle. During a torpedo attack by a German U-Boat, Cashin displayed extraordinary bravery, overseeing the evacuation of over 399 patients and ensuring their safety before leaving on the last lifeboat. After the war, she managed a military hospital in England before returning to Australia to care for her ailing father and later her elderly uncle. Cashin's post-war years included a modest stint running a stationery shop and her retirement in Victoria Road. Her exemplary service earned her multiple accolades, including the Star Medal and the Royal Red Cross Medal, the latter being the first awarded to an Australian. She was also honoured with multiple mentions in dispatches and personal invitations to Buckingham Palace. Alice Cashin's legacy is memorialised at the Woronora Cemetery, with her medals and accolades displayed at the ANZAC Memorial in Sydney, reflecting her enduring impact on the nursing profession and her remarkable dedication to service and care.

Arnold James Knight was born on the 17th May 1789, the youngest of three sons and seven daughters born to Alexander and Catherine Knight of Sixhills Grange, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. The Knight family were Catholics and traced their origins to the fifteenth Century. As a child, Arnold Knight was taught by the Rev. James Simkiss, a man of profound learning and scientific knowledge, and aged 10 he was sent to Baddesley Green Academy, Edgbaston, to be taught by the Franciscan Monks. At 16, he went to St Mary's College, Oscott, Birmingham to 'improve his Latin and Greek'. Oscott College today is a seminary in the Archdiocese of Birmingham but then it was also a lay school where the notable Catholic families sent their sons to be educated. At Oscott, his piety and academic ability so impressed his teachers that they hoped he would study for the priesthood but he decided to study medicine.

Jean-Nicolas Marjolin was a 19th century French anatomist and surgeon. Although not strictly speaking a pivotal figure in history of medicine, he deserves to be known for at least three reasons. He (more or less accurately) described a type of ulcer which is nowadays referred to as Marjolin's ulcer (1828); he had the privilege of operating on the world-famous Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord for an anthrax (1838); and a rose has been named after him since 1860.

Dr (Professor) Bishnupada Mukhopadhaya's life story is a testament to his dedication, exceptional skill, and unwavering commitment to advancing the field of orthopaedics in India. His impact transcends his surgical skills. He leaves behind a legacy of excellence, not just through the numerous awards he received but through the countless lives he touched, the institutions he built, and the unwavering spirit of continuous learning he instilled in generations of orthopaedic surgeons in India. His biography highlights the key contributions across various aspects of the field, serving as a source of motivation and encouragement for all those who strive for continuous learning in the field of orthopaedics.

While the contributions of Dr Marjory W. Warren to geriatric medicine are widely acknowledged, their specifics have become obscured by the passage of time. The primary objective of this narrative review of her medical publications was to clarify the contributions she made for this field of medical practice. A total of 82 publications were found. In them Warren presented a then novel and hopeful approach to the management of older patients that included making care plans derived from comprehensive assessments, implementing team-based interventions, and ensuring continuity of care. These innovations, though, took years to implement and included what would now be considered a number of paternalistic and hierarchical aspects. Objective patient outcome data was rarely presented. While responsible for innovations that remain key to the field, some of what she proposed are either no longer possible (e.g. large in-patient units with prolonged lengths of stay) or have required modifications to align with current practice.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852) was one of the most impactful United States political figures of the early and mid-nineteenth century. He served in Congress and as the Secretary of State for three Presidents. He died in October of 1852 and his autopsy appeared in the medical literature. Historians have reported that his cause of death was either related to a traumatic head injury he sustained in May of 1852 or from complications of alcoholic cirrhosis. In this manuscript, we will review Webster's medical history and autopsy to determine his cause of death.