Elizabeth Marion Innes

FRCPE The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

(10 April 1921 - 10 April 2015) was a Scottish paediatric haematologist.

Early life and education

Elizabeth Marion Innes (

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

, "Elma") was born in Adrossan, 10 April 1921. She grew up in

Burntisland Burntisland ( , sco, also Bruntisland) is a former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 6,269. It was previously known as Wester Kingho ...

, Scotland. Innes attended The Mary Erskine's School in Edinburgh, commuting by train each day from her home in Fife. She studied for her medical degree at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 1943 and was the most distinguished woman graduate in her year.

Career and research

As a junior doctor, she treated soldiers returning from the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

at Gogarburn Emergency medical services hospital, going on to later specialise in

paediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

and community child health. In 1962, she established the

paediatric Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

haematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

unit in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

's Royal Hospital for Sick Children, and was unpaid for the first two years of this work. Innes became a Member of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

in 1946, and a Fellow in 1966. Innes spent a year working as a

research fellow in

St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, United states in the late 1940s. She participated in multi-centre trials of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

and

radiotherapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radia ...

for children with

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

, and became a member of the Medical Research Council's working party on childhood leukaemia in 1969. Innes was appointed as a senior lecturer at the

in 1976.

Personal life

She married her husband, James, in 1946 who had told her that he would only marry her if she passed the Royal College of Physicians examinations. Together the couple had two daughters and a son. After retiring in 1981, she enjoyed travelling with James, particularly to

Barra Barra (; gd, Barraigh or ; sco, Barra) is an island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and the second southernmost inhabited island there, after the adjacent island of Vatersay to which it is connected by a short causeway. The island is na ...

, and spending time with her family, gardening, reading and playing piano. Innes was widowed in 2009, after 63 years of marriage. She died on her 94th birthday, on 10 April 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Innes, Elizabeth 1921 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Scottish medical doctors 20th-century women physicians Scottish women medical doctors British paediatricians Women pediatricians British haematologists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Scottish women academics 20th-century Scottish women