Elizabeth Innes

Elizabeth Marion Innes (nickname, "Elma") was born in Adrossan, 10 April 1921. She grew up in Burntisland, Scotland.[1][3]

Innes attended The Mary Erskine's School in Edinburgh, commuting by train each day from her home in Fife.[3] She studied for her medical degree at the University of Edinburgh in 1943 and was the most distinguished woman graduate in her year.[1]

As a junior doctor, she treated soldiers returning from the World War II at Gogarburn Emergency medical services hospital, going on to later specialise in paediatrics and community child health.[2][3] In 1962, she established the paediatric haematology unit in Edinburgh's Royal Hospital for Sick Children, and was unpaid for the first two years of this work.[1][2][3] Innes became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1946, and a Fellow in 1966.[2][3]

Innes spent a year working as a haematology research fellow in St Louis, United states in the late 1940s.[1][3] She participated in multi-centre trials of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for children with leukaemia, and became a member of the Medical Research Council's working party on childhood leukaemia in 1969.[1][3] Innes was appointed as a senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 1976.[1]

She married her husband, James, in 1946 who had told her that he would only marry her if she passed the Royal College of Physicians examinations.[1][3] Together the couple had two daughters and a son. After retiring in 1981, she enjoyed travelling with James, particularly to Barra, and spending time with her family, gardening, reading and playing piano.[1][3] Innes was widowed in 2009, after 63 years of marriage. She died on her 94th birthday,[3] on 10 April 2015.