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
Related entries
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
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21664434. Details
- 'Heighway, Freida Ruth (1907-1963)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1468364. Details
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
Created: 25 May 2001, Last modified: 1 August 2007