Biographical entry
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Biographical entry
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Anderson, Charlotte Morrison (1915 - 2002)AM, FRACP, FRCP, FACP |
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| Paediatric Gastroenterologist | |
| Born: 12 March 1915 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Died: 15 April 2002 Toorak, Victoria, Australia. | |
| Charlotte Morrison Anderson was a Australian pioneer of paediatric gastroenterology. She developed a clinical and research program at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, where she also established the first cystic fibrosis clinic in Australia (1953) and the hospital’s Gastroenterological Research Unit (1962). Her research was wide-reaching and varied, but her major contributions were made in the areas of cystic fibrosis, celiac disease and sugar intolerance: Anderson devised a test to differentiate between cystic fibrosis and celiac disease; introduced the use of inhalation and chest physiotherapy to increase the survival rate of cystic fibrosis patients; discovered that celiac disease was triggered by wheat gluten and that a gluten-free diet could prevent further disease onset and heal the damaged gut; and invented a simple, non-invasive test for diagnosing sugar intolerance in infants. |
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After completing a science degree and five years of research, Charlotte Morrison Anderson, decided to take up medicine. She graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine from the University of Melbourne in 1945 and was appointed a Resident at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. The following year she moved to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital which was the start of her life-long association with the hospital. The hospital’s Charlote Anderson Memorial Lecture was named in her honour. In 1950 Anderson received a fellowship and traveled to the Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Birmingham in England to continue her research into malabsorption problems in children. She returned to Melbourne and to the Children’s Hospital in 1953 and established Australia’s first cystic fibrosis clinic. In 1962 she set up the hospital’s Gastroenterological Research Unit, which she headed for six years. Charlotte Anderson returned to England and to the University of Birmingham in 1968, remaining there for fourteen years. After her retirement in 1982, she came back to Australia where she worked as an Honorary Consulting Gasteroenterologist at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Western Australia and at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. Anderson was a fellow of the national and international paediatric societies, helped establish the Australian Society of Paediatric Research, co-founded the Australian Paediatric Journal (1965), authored numerous scientific publications including the book Paediatric Gastroenterology (Anderson & Burke, 1975), and was appointed a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia for her service to medicine. Chronology
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Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb, 1994 - 2007 Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre Disclaimer, Copyright and Privacy Policy Submit any comments, questions, corrections and additions Prepared by: Acknowledgements Updated: 26 February 2007 http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P004580b.htm |