Helen Lightbody Kirkwood

bmj;379/oct27_12/o2561/FAF1faHelen Lightbody Kirkwood (née Steven) was born in Bargeddie, Lanarkshire, and was the first person in her family to go to university. During the second world war she worked, as a student, at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, treating many injured service men and recalled vividly the transformative moment that came with her first use of penicillin.After graduating she became the first woman GP in Wigtownshire, joining Gavin Brown in rural practice in Port William. Just how groundbreaking this was was reflected in the fact that many of his colleagues and patients remarked that Brown had been “sent a lassie,” although Helen would quickly dispel their doubts.Remote from any hospitals they looked after all the medical needs of their patients, from home births to dental extractions to emergencies at sea, and she often recalled the tidal wave of unmet need and pathology that presented to the practice with the introduction of the…
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