Sheila Theodora Elsie Callender (5 April 1914 – 17 August 2004) was a British physician and

haematologist 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 produ ...

. She spent the majority of her career at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and has been credited with helping to establish haematology as a distinct medical discipline.

Early life and education

Callender was born on 5 April 1914 in Sidcup, Kent, to Thomas Marshall Callender, a general practitioner, and Charlotte Elizabeth Marie Rose (née Hoysted). Her mother and father were of Irish and Scottish descent respectively. She attended secondary school at the

Godolphin School Godolphin School is an independent boarding and day school for girls in Salisbury, England, which was founded in 1726 and opened in 1784. The school educates girls between the ages of three and eighteen. History Godolphin was founded by Eliz ...

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

. She attended the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

from 1932, earning a BSc in 1935 and an

MBChB Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United Kin ...

in 1938. Upon her latter graduation, she received a gold medal recognising her as the best student of her year. She graduated with an MD in 1944 for her research on

anaemia Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...

during pregnancy.

Career

Callender began her career as a junior doctor at Dundee Royal Infirmary. In 1940, she was appointed to the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service as an assistant in pathology and medical officer. She worked at

from 1942 to 1946 as a house officer and research assistant. In 1946, she received a fellowship from the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...

to conduct research in

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 ...

in St. Louis, Missouri, until 1948. Upon her return to the United Kingdom, she was appointed reader and later a consultant physician at Oxford's Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, where she spent the rest of her career. She was made a

Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

in 1962 and awarded a DSc by Oxford University in 1970. She has been recognised as one of a group of physicians in the United Kingdom and North America who helped to establish haematology as a distinct discipline of medicine. Callender's contributions to haematology included research on iron absorption and the effects and management of

iron overload Iron overload or hemochromatosis (also spelled ''haemochromatosis'' in British English) indicates increased total accumulation of iron in the body from any cause and resulting organ damage. The most important causes are hereditary haemochromato ...

. She studied some of the most common causes of anaemia: iron deficiency,

vitamin B12 deficiency Vitamin B12 deficiency, also known as cobalamin deficiency, is the medical condition in which the blood and tissue have a lower than normal level of vitamin B12. Symptoms can vary from none to severe. Mild deficiency may have few or absent symp ...

, and

folate deficiency Folate deficiency, also known as vitamin B9 deficiency, is a low level of folate and derivatives in the body. Signs of folate deficiency are often subtle. A low number of red blood cells (anemia) is a late finding in folate deficiency and folat ...

. She also worked with Rob Race to develop a new method for determining the lifespan of

red blood cells Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "hol ...

, and helped Leslie Witts on early studies 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. Chemother ...

regimens for treating

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 ...

. She and her colleagues at Oxford designed one of the first whole-body counters to measure radioactivity within the body.

Personal life

Callender married Ivan Gyula Árpád Monostori, a Hungarian refugee studying medicine at Oxford, in 1957; they lived together in Oxford and Scotland with "a collection of rather terrifying mastiffs". Callender died from leukaemia on 17 August 2004 at

John Radcliffe Hospital The John Radcliffe Hospital (informally known as the JR) is a large tertiary teaching hospital in Oxford, England. It forms part of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is named after John Radcliffe, an 18th-century physic ...

in Oxford.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Callender, Sheila 1914 births 2004 deaths 20th-century British medical doctors Alumni of the University of St Andrews British medical researchers Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians British haematologists Medical scholars of the University of Oxford People from Sidcup People educated at Godolphin School English women medical doctors Rockefeller Fellows 20th-century women physicians