Leading thoracic physician and the first female president of the Royal College of Physicians

Born: November 19, 1924;

Died: August 21, 2017

PROFESSOR Dame Margaret Turner-Warwick, who has died aged 92, was a leading thoracic physician who played a vital role in the development of modern respiratory medicine; she also became a role model for many women considering a career in medicine and in 1989 became the first ever female president of the Royal College of Physicians.

In her long and distinguished career, Dame Margaret also helped to transform respiratory medicine into what it is today: one of the priorities of healthcare and research. When she entered the field in the 1950s, an effective treatment for tuberculosis – which Dame Margaret herself suffered from as a young woman ¬– had only just recently been introduced. Medical knowledge of many lung diseases was also in its infancy.

Dame Margaret played a major role in changing that, particularly after she was appointed professor of thoracic medicine at the Cardiothoracic Institute of London University in 1972 (she was later dean of the institute from 1984 to 1987). Dame Margaret and her colleagues helped to better co-ordinate research, particularly in her major area of interest – asthma, to develop a better understanding of the immunology of the lung and raise the profile of lung disease in the NHS.

Margaret Elizabeth Harvey Moore was born in London where her father was a barrister and decided on medicine as a career early in her life. She won a scholarship to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she was one of very few women (something which Turner-Warwick said she simply ignored).

She was diagnosed with tuberculosis while still at university and had to spend a year at a Swiss sanatorium before continuing her training at University College Hospital. She later said that her time in the sanatorium helped her to develop a better sympathy and understanding for patients.

In 1960 she was appointed a consultant physician at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital and then consultant physician at the London Chest and Brompton Hospitals. She also worked as a senior lecturer at the Institute of Diseases of the Chest before her appointment to the Cardiothoracic Institute, which made her one of only two female professors of medicine in the whole of London.

Dame Margaret retired from Imperial College in 1987 and two years later was elected president of the Royal College of Physicians in London, thereby becoming the first woman in the role in the college’s 500-year history. She was later chairman of the Royal Devon and Exeter Health Care NHS Trust in the 1990s.

She lectured widely and held senior positions with a number of medical organisations. She was president of the British Thoracic Society from 1982-83 and chairman of the Asthma Research Council from 1982 to 1987. She was also member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics from 1991 to 2000.

Her name will now live on in the Margaret Turner Warwick Education Centre at Imperial College London, which was opened in 2015.

Dame Margaret was appointed DBE in 1991. She is survived by her husband and daughters.

Born: November 19, 1924;

Died: August 21, 2017

Professor Dame Margaret Turner-Warwick, who has died aged 92, was a leading thoracic physician who played a vital role in the development of modern respiratory medicine; she also became a role model for many women considering a career in medicine and in 1989 became the first ever female president of the Royal College of Physicians.

In her long and distinguished career, Dame Margaret also helped to transform respiratory medicine into what it is today: one of the priorities of healthcare and research. When she entered the field in the 1950s, an effective treatment for tuberculosis – which Dame Margaret herself suffered from as a young woman ¬– had only just recently been introduced. Medical knowledge of many lung diseases was also in its infancy.

Dame Margaret played a major role in changing that, particularly after she was appointed professor of thoracic medicine at the Cardiothoracic Institute of London University in 1972 (she was later dean of the institute from 1984 to 1987). Dame Margaret and her colleagues helped to better co-ordinate research, particularly in her major area of interest – asthma, to develop a better understanding of the immunology of the lung and raise the profile of lung disease in the NHS.

Margaret Elizabeth Harvey Moore was born in London where her father was a barrister and decided on medicine as a career early in her life. She won a scholarship to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she was one of very few women (something which Turner-Warwick said she simply ignored).

She was diagnosed with tuberculosis while still at university and had to spend a year at a Swiss sanatorium before continuing her training at University College Hospital. She later said that her time in the sanatorium helped her to develop a better sympathy and understanding for patients.

In 1960 she was appointed a consultant physician at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital and then consultant physician at the London Chest and Brompton Hospitals. She also worked as a senior lecturer at the Institute of Diseases of the Chest before her appointment to the Cardiothoracic Institute, which made her one of only two female professors of medicine in the whole of London.

Dame Margaret retired from Imperial College in 1987 and two years later was elected president of the Royal College of Physicians in London, thereby becoming the first woman in the role in the college’s 500-year history. She was later chairman of the Royal Devon and Exeter Health Care NHS Trust in the 1990s.

She lectured widely and held senior positions with a number of medical organisations. She was president of the British Thoracic Society from 1982-83 and chairman of the Asthma Research Council from 1982 to 1987. She was also member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics from 1991 to 2000.

Her name will now live on in the Margaret Turner Warwick Education Centre at Imperial College London, which was opened in 2015.

Dame Margaret was appointed DBE in 1991. She is survived by her husband and daughters.