Jakobowicz, Rachel (1908 - 1991)

Summary

Dr. Rachel Jakobowicz was a pioneering immunohematologist whose scientific research fundamentally shaped the safety and development of the Australian Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service. A qualified medical practitioner, she arrived in Melbourne in 1938 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. She worked R.T. Simmons and J.J. Graydon at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories and F.M. Burnet and others at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research. Her work with long-term colleague and friend Lucy Bruce, and others focussed Rh antigen in blood donors.

Details

In 1943, Rachel, who in 1938, fled Germany with the rise of Adolf Hitler, co-authored a landmark paper in the MJA which would positively impact the survival and delivery of Rh D positive babies born to Rh D negative mothers. Working with Lucy Bryce, Jack Graydon and Roy Simmons (CSL) and Carl Landsteiner she surveyed the incidence of his newly described Rh antigen in blood donors and in mothers delivering babies with haemolytic disease of the new-born (HDNB). As CSL began to amass anti-D serum from blood donors, the foundation was set for clinical diagnosis and prevention of RhD HDNB.

Co-author of more than 50 papers, Rachel was an invited speaker at overseas conferences and in 1956 was a foundation member of the RCPA. In recognition of her quiet determination, enthusiasm and contributions, in 1953 she was awarded, the QEII Coronation Medal. On her retirement in 1973 she received the Red Cross Society Distinguished Service Medal. [Source: Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion web site, 2026]

Chronology

1934

Education - MD (Doctor of Medicine), Berlin. She was prented for studying psychiatry by the Nazis so worked in scientific research, working in a laboratory on the metabolism of calcium and magnesium.

13 August 1936

Life event - Applied for a passport in Berlin as a single woman with occupation 'medical research work'

1938

Life event - Fled Germany to escape the Nazi regime.

1 July 1938

Life event - Arrived in Sydney on board the RMS Aorangi (II) (1924-1953). Her personal statement and declaration [NAA:A12508, 50/931] noted her intended occupation in Australia as 'children's nurse' and her 'guarantee: Sir Samual Cohen, 11-13 Bond Street Sydney, N.S.W.' She was later joined by her parents and sister Pauline.

July 1938 - February 1940

Career event - Her M.D. (Berlin) is recgnised in Australia and she commences research in Melbourne

1939

Career position - Joined the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service as an assistant to Dr Ross before becoming a full time serologist.

January 1943

Career event - Found a serum that reacted with the blood of about 80% of Group O blood donors later shown to correspond to the Rh factor identified by the 1930 Nobel Prize winner Karl Landsteiner and his colleague Alexander Wiener in 1937.

25 October 1943

Life event - Receives Commonwealth of Australia Certificate of Naturalization [NAA A714 16/7683]

1953

Award - QEII Coronation Medal

1956

Career event - Foundation Member, College of Pathologists of Australasia, later a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia

1960s

Career position - Director, Red Cross Blood Bank and became a great friend of Elizabeth Bell OAM (1911-2007)

1960s - 1970s

Career position - Honorary academic and clinical positions, Faculty of Medicine, Monash University, assoicated with the Queen Victoria Hospital, Melbourne

1973

Award - Life Member, Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion

1973

Award - Red Cross Society Distinguished Service Medal

1973

Career event - Retired, Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital and the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (Victorian Division)

c. 1974 - c. 1980

Education - Studies German and history gaining a BA, an MA and finally a PhD.

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Brogan, Alfred H., Committed to Saving Lives: a history of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (South Yarra, Victoria: Hyland House, 1990), 301 pp. Page 221. Details
• Bryce, Lucy M., An abiding gladness (Melbourne, Victoria: Georgian house Pty Ltd, 1965), xv, illustrations, 322 pp. pages 3, 62, 214, and many other references. Details

Journal Articles

• Jakobwicz, R.; Bryce, L.M; Simmons, R.T., 'Occurrence of unusual positive Coombs reactions and M Factors in the blood of a mother and her first baby', Nature, 165 (1950), 158-159, https://www.nature.com/articles/165158b0. Details

Newspaper Articles

• Anon, 'Books honour Rachel's memory', The Australian Jewish News (1992), http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article261481492. Details

Resource Sections

• Anon, 'Life Members: Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion', in ANZSBT Web Site, Australian and New Zealand Society of Blood Transfusion, Sydney, Australia, 2026, https://members.anzsbt.org.au/members/life-members/. Life Member 1973. Details