Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bobebam here. Living through a global pandemic will have a wealth of unintended consequences, positive and negative, but one will certainly be a greater appreciation for people in medical professions, from those on the front lines treating patients to the researchers laboring behind the scenes seeking to isolate viruses and discover vaccines, both now and in the past.
Dame Gene McNamara was one such hero. She witnessed and made remarkable contributions in her chosen profession, medicine, principally in the area of polio research and her work with patients with partial or complete paralysis. McNamara was born in Victoria, Australia, on April one. She was born into a family that prized hard work and education, and she excelled at both.
McNamara attended Press Tyrian Ladies College and became the editor of the school's magazine, winning the prize for General Excellence. She distinguished herself at the University of Melbourne, graduating in ninety two with degrees in both surgery and anatomy. She went on to become a resident medical officer at the
Royal Melbourne Hospital. McNamara was just twenty three years old when she was appointed resident at the Royal Children's Hospital in May of nineteen three, where she worked until nineteen It was a critical time as a horrifying disease, polio myelitis also known as polio, was sweeping the globe. After leaving the hospital, mcnamaro worked as a clinical assistant for a children's outpatients physician and entered private practice to focus
on polio patients. But it was in McNamara's research where she shone brightness. It was her conclusion that immune seram needed to be used in polio treatment during the pre paralytic stage. She published and defended her results in both Australian and British journals, though it was a treatment that was never widely administered. While visiting Princeton University, McNamara also learned about the virus myzomatosis that infected and killed rabbits.
It was at her urging the Australian government held field trials using the virus to eradicate millions of Australia's rabbits, considered to be pests that had overpopulated the country. However, it was her discovery in nineteen thirty one, along with Australian virologist Sir Frank McFarlane Burnett, of more than one strain of the poliovirus, that made her reputation. They're Finding is credited as one of the first steps toward the
eventual discovery of the stock vaccine. She traveled to England and North America on a Rockefeller fellowship from September of nineteen thirty one to October of nineteen thirty three, even meeting with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, himself a victim of polio. In addition to her keen interest in curing disease, McNamara sought to alleviate the pain and suffering that it left in its wake. She's credited with ordering the first artificial
respirator or ventilator in Australia. She introduced novel approaches to rehabilitation and splinting damaged limbs, most developed in conjunction with
conversation with patients and her own splint maker. McNamara proved to be a tireless advocate for people with disabilities, long before it was a widespread consideration She married a fellow physician, dermatologist Joseph Connor, in thirty four, and in nineteen thirty five McNamara was appointed Name Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to the welfare of children.
She died of heart disease in nineteen sixty eight. Today's episode is based on the article polio doc Gene McNamara's work CRUs Viruses can be Vanquished on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Patty rest Musin. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clang. For more podcasts by heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.