Dame Sheila Patricia Violet Sherlock DBE, FRCP FRCPE FRS HFRSE FMGA FCRGA was a British physician and medical educator who is considered the major 20th-century contributor to the field of hepatology.
25 Facts About Sheila Sherlock
2.
Sheila Sherlock was born in Dublin on 31 March 1918, the only daughter of Violet Mary Catherine and Samuel Philip Sherlock, an army officer then serving as a lieutenant in the 1st Cavalry Reserve.
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Sheila Sherlock's family moved from Ireland to London soon after her birth and she attended private schools in the city until her family moved in 1929 to the village of Sandgate, Kent.
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Sheila Sherlock's ability became evident, and she graduated in 1941 finishing top of her year.
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Sheila Sherlock was awarded the Ettles Scholarship, being only the second woman to have done so.
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Sheila Sherlock remained in Edinburgh to take up the post of Assistant Lecturer in Surgery offered to her by Professor Sir James Learmonth, and published her first paper with Learmonth in 1942.
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Sheila Sherlock later recounted that Learmonth had taught her how to conduct and document research.
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Sheila Sherlock was awarded her MD with a thesis on The Liver in Disease: with special reference to aspiration liver biopsy, receiving a Gold Medal from University of Edinburgh.
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Sheila Sherlock conducted research into portal hypertension, hepatic encephalopathy and ascites at this time.
10.
Sheila Sherlock returned to London and in 1948 was appointed Lecturer in Medicine and Consultant Physician at Hammersmith Hospital.
11.
Sheila Sherlock founded the liver unit which was located in a temporary wooden structure on the roof of the hospital in Gray's Inn Road.
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Sheila Sherlock retired from the Chair of Medicine in 1983, but continued to see patients, conduct research, and write.
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Sheila Sherlock delivered several of the Royal College of Physicians lectures including the Bradshaw Lecture, Humphry Davy Rolleston and Lumleian Lectures and Harveian Oration.
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Sheila Sherlock was known as a clear and succinct writer, and she published over 600 papers in scientific journals.
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Sheila Sherlock was editor of Gut and the Journal of Hepatology.
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On 15 December 1951, Sheila Sherlock married Dr Geraint "Gerry" James, a physician and researcher into sarcoidosis.
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On 30 December 2001, Sheila Sherlock died in London from pulmonary fibrosis, two weeks after her golden wedding anniversary.
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When Sheila Sherlock started her medical career, little was known about liver disease.
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Sheila Sherlock's work helped to establish hepatology as a medical specialty.
20.
Sheila Sherlock pioneered the use of needle liver biopsy, which had been used purely as a research tool, based on the technique of Sir John McMichael.
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Sheila Sherlock's approach improved the understanding of the pathology of liver disease and it continues to be used in the diagnosis of liver diseases today.
22.
Sheila Sherlock demonstrated the efficacy of corticosteroid therapy for autoimmune hepatitis.
23.
Sheila Sherlock recognised the link between hepatitis B and hepatocellular carcinoma.
24.
In 2006, the Sheila Sherlock Prizes were founded with a donation from her husband, Dr Geraint James.
25.
Sheila Sherlock explains he felt she was conducting experiments on patients which she knew to be harmful an example give is that she wrote 'It is dangerous to give amino-acids such as methionine, which are toxic, to patients with liver disease.