PIONEER WOMAN DOCTOR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23669, 29 November 1938, Page 17

PIONEER WOMAN DOCTOR

SIXTY YEARS OF PRACTICE iFrom Our Own Correspondent) LONDON, Oct. 27. A pioneer woman doctor, Dr Jane "Walker, who has been practising for nearly 60 years, -celebrated her seventyninth birthday this week. She will celebrate the diamond jubilee of her entry into medicine during the year. Dr Walker is one of the famous pioneers of open-air treatment for consumption in England, and her diamond jubilee will be commemorated by the establishment of the Jane Walker Juvenile Research Clinic, at Nayland, Suffolk. It was there, nearly 40 vears ago. that she founded what is now the famous East Anglian Sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis. •

The Research Clinic is to provide facilities for the extended treatment, under specialist supervision, of children whose subnormal physical condition may predispose to tuberculosis, rheumatism, chronic anaemia, and severe nervous disorders. Accommodation is available for 40 children. This is to be increased to 100. A campaign is now being launched tn establish a fund of £25,000 to provide a perpetual income for the centre. Dr Walker was born in Yorkshire, the daughter of a prosperous blanket manufacturer. She decided to become a doctor, although at that time women were barred from the profession. Those were the days of rigid convention, which barred women from the profession, but Jane Walker was determined, and her liberal-minded father encouraged her. She studied at the London School of Medicine for Women and in Vienna, and because no British university would grant her a medical degree she went to Brussels to take her M.D. For many years she was in general practice, until 46 years ago, she went to Germany to investigate on behalf of a friend,, the open-air treatment of consumption there. She returned home an advocate of the new method, and, though scorned by the public opinion of the day, which prescribed treatment within closed doors in warm, stuffy rooms, she opened a sanatorium at Downham Market, Norfolk, beginning with six patients. As it developed, the centre was transplanted to Nayland. It has become the model for a large number of similar institutions at home and abroad.

To-day Dr Walker divides her busy life between her Harley street consulting room and her famous sanatorium at Nayland, six miles north of Colchester. Her Harley street waitins room gives you an idea of her wide interests in life, for the walls t,r? covered, with modern pictures; there are three Rothensteins and an Eric Kennington. "Collecting pictures is my great hobby," Dr Walker said, "Since the age of 14 I wanted to be a doctor. In those days women doctors were not supposed to be wanted, and many of my family were against me. Fortunately, I had the support of my father, and he helped me all through.