Person
Hayward, Nancy Joan (1916 - 1989)
- Born
- 1916
Victoria, Australia - Died
- June 1989
Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Educator and Microbiologist
Summary
Nancy Joan Hayward was an Australian microbiologist who did groundbreaking work on the rapid identification of Cl. Welchii bacterial infections using the Nagler reaction, during World War II.
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Details
Having achieved her Masters degree, Hayward initially travelled to England to undertake a Diploma in Bacteriology but the course was cancelled in light of the war.
Hayward was then awarded Medical Research Council grant to work at the Emergency Medical Service Laboratory, Watford, instructing army pathologists. While there, Hayward devised a highly successful method of testing for the bacterium Clostridium welchii (perfringens), a major cause of gangrene amongst the war wounded. She published her findings in the paperRapid identification of Cl. Welchii by the Nagler reaction (1941).
In 1943 she published The rapid identification of Cl. welchii by Nagler tests in plate cultures, a paper refining her methods.
After the war she returned to Australia, having been awarded a PhD for her work on Cl. Welchii (1946). On her return she spent time collaborating with Sir Edward (Weary) Dunlop.
She then worked at the University of Melbourne, with S. D. Rubbo from 1946 to 1952, and with E.S.J. King from 1959 to 1966.
Hayward also returned to the UK to work in 1963-64 and 1976.
Hayward worked in the Microbiology Department of the Alfred Hospital from 1978 until the end of her career.
She published many significant papers on bacterial infection identification and intestinal flora and bacteria.
Chronology
- 1938?
- Education - MSc for work on the effect of sulphapyridine in meningococcal meningitis in children
- 1939
- Career position - Awarded Medical Research Council Grant to work in the Emergency Medical Service Laboratory, Watford
- 1939
- Life event - Travelled to England
- 1941
- Career event - Published Rapid identification of Cl. Welchii by the Nagler reaction in the British Medical Journal
- 1943
- Career event - Published The rapid identification of Cl. welchii by Nagler tests in plate cultures in The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology
- 1946
- Career position - Appointed to the Bacteriology Department, University of Melbourne
- 1946
- Education - Awarded PhD for research on anaerobic infection in war wounds, University College Hospital Medical School, London
- 1946 - 1959
- Career position - Appointed to the Bacteriology Department, University of Melbourne
- 1959 - 1966
- Career position - Senior Lecturer, Pathology Department, University of Melbourne
- 1963 - 1964
- Career event - Worked in the Bacteriology Department, University of Edinburgh
- 1966 - 1978?
- Career position - Appointed to new Department of Microbiology, Monash University
- 1974
- Career event - Worked with Professor William Gillespie in Bristol studying urinary tract infections
- 1978? -
- Career position - Appointed to the Microbiology Department, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne
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
Journal Articles
- Stokes, E.J., 'Obituary Notice Nancy Joan Hayward 1916-1989', Journal of Medical Microbiology, 34 (1991), 239-240. Details
Resources
- 'Hayward, Nancy Joan (1916-19890630)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1491920. Details
See also
- Hooker, Claire, Irresistible Forces: Australian Women in Science (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2004), 215 pp. Details
Rebecca Rigby
Created: 19 January 2012, Last modified: 3 October 2012