At the start of the interview Dr Gwenifer Wilson, the first Laureate in the history of anaesthesia, describes her family and her childhood moving around New South Wales. Having decided that she wanted to be a doctor at a young age she concentrated on sciences at school and started her medical studies at Sydney Medical School from 1934. She speaks of the influence of several key figures: Professors Abbie and Douglas Miller during her pre-clinical years and Eric Sussman, Professor Lambie and Harold Dew during her clinical studies. This is followed by discussion of Dr Wilson's early medical career. She reflects on her first job as junior registrar at Balmain Hospital, Sydney, where she worked with the surgeon Dr Cyril Corlette, pioneer of the use of local anaesthesia, who enthused her with the idea of specialising as an anaesthetist; her marriage to Charles Bernard in 1942; and gaining the diploma in anaesthesia from Sydney University in 1945, for which she acknowledges the help of Dr Andrew Distin Morgan. Next Dr Wilson talks of developments in anaesthesia in Australia from the mid 1940s to the early 1950s. These include the introduction of muscle relaxants from 1945, the dangers accompanying their early use, and the consequent coming together of anaesthesia as a specialty - the Australian Society of Anaesthetist was founded in 1947 and the Faculty of Anaesthetists and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1952. The interview moves on to the subject of Dr Wilson's life and career in the late 1940s and 1950s: her work as honorary anaesthetist in a number of Sydney hospitals, her experiences of gender discrimination and coping with the pressures of motherhood and a career in medicine, and her work with the Society and Faculty. Next, Dr Wilson speaks of her work on the history of anaesthesia. She describes in detail her research into who gave the first anaesthetics in Australia in 1847, and her major publications on the history of anaesthesia in Australia 1846-1962 and the first fifty years of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists. At end of interview Dr Wilson looks back on her happier second marriage to Thomas Edward Wilson, and the honours she received in 1995 - a doctorate in medicine from Sydney University and the inaugural Laureate in history of anaesthesia from the American Society of Anaesthesiologists - for her historical work.
Sydney University Medical School; Professor Abbie; Professor Douglas Miller; Eric Sussman; Professor Lambie: Harold Dew; Balmain Hospital; Cyril Corlette; Charles Bernard; Dr Andrew Distin Morgan; muscle relaxants; Faculty of Anaesthetists, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons; Australian Society of Anaesthetists; history of anaesthesia in Australia
Anaesthesia,
vid-238, MSVA_123
Permanent link to this resource: https://doi.org/10.24384/000051
Wilson, GweniferBlythe, Max
Learning Resources
Original artefact: 1996 RADAR resource: 2017
Sydney, AU
© Oxford Brookes University; The Royal College of Physicians; The Royal Australasian College of Physicians Published by Oxford Brookes UniversityAll rights reserved.