Mary Sheila Christian (16 September 1924 – 24 July 1997) was a British

emergency physician An emergency physician (often called an "ER doctor" in the United States) is a physician who works at an emergency department to care for ill patients. The emergency physician is a specialist in advanced cardiac life support (advanced life suppo ...

and

general surgeon General surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses on alimentary canal and abdominal contents including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, appendix and bile ducts, and often the thyroid ...

. She is considered one of the founders of accident and emergency medicine in the United Kingdom.

Biography

Mary Sheila Christian was born 16 September 1924. She studied medicine at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, graduating in 1949. She briefly worked as a general practitioner in

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

before undertaking training in

general surgery General surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses on alimentary canal and abdominal contents including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, appendix and bile ducts, and often the thyroid ...

. She spent three years working as a surgeon in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

before returning to the UK, settling in

Wexham Wexham is a civil parish in the county of Buckinghamshire in southern England. It is on the boundary of the unitary authority of Slough, its post town. Wexham Park Hospital is a large hospital on the parish border and Burnham Beeches, a forest t ...

, where she became a surgical registrar at

Wexham Park Hospital Wexham Park Hospital is a large NHS hospital in Slough, Berkshire. It has been managed by Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust since 2014. Sir Andrew Morris is the chief executive of Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital was ...

. In 1969, she became the surgeon in charge of the hospital's

accident & emergency An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...

(A&E) department. She moved to the

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known simply as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barn ...

as an A&E consultant in 1973, but returned to Wexham Park in 1975 in an equivalent position. Christian was responsible for rebuilding the A&E department at Wexham Park Hospital, as well as other departments in the county of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area *Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wind ...

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

and Ascot. She developed one of Britain's first training courses for

paramedics A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research. Not all ambulance personnel are p ...

, and established an annual conference at Windsor for trainees in A&E medicine. She campaigned for

basic life support Basic life support (BLS) is a level of medical care which is used for patients with life-threatening illnesses or injuries until they can be given full medical care by advanced life support providers (paramedics, nurses, physicians). It can be pr ...

skills to be taught to schoolchildren, and for stronger legislation around

seat belt A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt reduc ...

s and

drink-driving Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is invo ...

. After the death of her husband, Christian moved to Canada, where she spent her final years. She died 24 July 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Mary Sheila 1924 births 1997 deaths 20th-century British medical doctors 20th-century women physicians British emergency physicians British surgeons British women medical doctors British emigrants to Canada Alumni of the University of Glasgow Medical School Physicians of the Royal Free Hospital Women surgeons 20th-century surgeons