Person

Heighway, Freida Ruth (Ruth) (1907 - 1963)

MRCOG

Born
2 June 1907
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died
30 December 1963
North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Occupation
Gynaecologist and Obstetrician
Alternative Names
  • Abbie, Freida Ruth (married name)

Summary

Ruth Heighway was the first women to graduate with a MD degree from Sydney University (1939). After two years as a resident medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred and Royal North Shore hospitals, Heighway travelled to Edinburgh then England. She worked as a resident medical officer at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester and trained in obstetrics and gynecology. She became a member, then Fellow, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gyneacologists. Returning to Sydney in 1934 she entered general practice and gained honorary appointment at the Rachel Forster Hospital for Women and Children and the Women's Hospital in Crown Street. That same year she married anatomist Andrew Abbie. In 1945 Ruth Heighway and her family moved to Adelaide where she set up a solo gynecology practice. Being the only female gynecologist in the area her practice quickly grew. During this time Heighway also held honorary appointments at the Queen Victoria Maternity Hospital, the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. She is commemorated by The Ruth Heighway Memorial Prize and Medal in obstetrics awarded by the University of Adelaide.

Details

Chronology

1930
Education - Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (BS), University of Sydney
1930 - 1931
Career position - Resident Medical Officer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney
1931 - 1932
Career position - Resident Medical Officer at the Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney
1932 - 1934
Career position - Resident Medical Officer at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester, UK
1934
Career position - Returned to Australia to set up a private practice in Burwood, New South Wales
1934
Career position - Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynogologysts (MRCOG) in London
7 November 1934
Life event - Married Andrew Arthur Abbie at Moore Theological College Chapel in Newton, New South Wales
1939
Education - Doctor of Medicine (MD), University of Sydney
1945
Life event - Moved to Adelaide
1958
Career position - Fellow, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynogologysts (FRCOG), London

Husband

Archival resources

Barr Smith Library, Special Collections, The University of Adelaide

  • The Papers of Professor Andrew Arthur Abbie, 1905-76, 1933 - 1974, SR 572.994/A124m; Abbie, Andrew Arthur (1905 - 1976); Barr Smith Library, Special Collections, The University of Adelaide. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

  • McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Book Sections

  • Elmsie, Ronald; Nance, Susan, 'Abbie, Andrew Arthur (1905-1976), anatomist and anthropologist, and Frieda Ruth Heighway (1907-1963), gynaecologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 13: 1940 - 1980 A-De, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1993), pp. 1-2. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130001b.htm. Details

Resources

See also

  • Alexander, John A. ed., Who's who in Australia 1944 (Melbourne, Victoria: The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, 1944), 906 pp. Details

Ailie Smith

EOAS ID: biogs/P003326b.htm

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