Mary Barber

Mary Barber (3 April 1911 – 11 September 1965) was a British pathologist and bacteriologist who studied antibiotic resistance in bacteria. She was one of the pioneers in this field, documenting the phenomenon of penicillin resistance early on.

Life Barber was born on 3 April 1911 in Derby to mother Ether Howlett and father Hugh Barber. Her father, Dr Hugh Barber, was a distinguished physician who trained at Guy's Hospital. Of their three daughters, Mary was the only one to follow her father into medicine, becoming a fifth-generation physician. Barber received her early education at the Alice Ottley School in Worcester. For most of her life, she lived in a London flat; she never married. Throughout her life, Barber possessed strong political and religious beliefs, as a firm political liberal and devout Anglican. as well as outspoken on issues with which she did not agree. along with a companion, en route to a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament meeting. In 1938, she moved to the Archway Group Laboratory, where she was an assistant pathologist until 1939; that year, she took the same position at Hill End and the City Hospitals, St. Albans. Her most well-known work, studying penicillin resistance in staphylococci was published in 1947.

In 1947 she was appointed lecturer in bacteriology at the British Postgraduate Medical School.

Between 1948 and 1958, her focus shifted to cross-infection by Staphylococcus in hospitals. Through her studies, Barber showed that the increase in penicillin-resistant staphylococcus was not caused by selective pressure during patient treatment, but rather due to the spread of multiple resistant strains through the hospital. Her use of the phage-typing technique made it possible to identify that the nurses were the primary transmitters, carrying the infection between wards. Barber believed the growing antibiotic resistance of staphylococci bacteria was due to the widespread use of antibiotics, as well as hospitals not adhering to antiseptic measures. After she returned to BPMS (British Postgraduate Medical School) in 1958, she expanded upon this work, making a clear case for limiting antibiotic use and combining drugs for maximum effect and minimal increases in drug resistance; these studies were carried out at St. Thomas' Hospital. In seven wards (two female and two male general surgical wards, one female and one male orthopedic ward, and one male urology ward), antibiotic use and staff hygiene were strictly monitored, and nasal swabs were taken from as many patients and staff as possible. In June 1959, the incidence of infections resistant to the antibiotic combination in surgical wards declined to 36%, and that of infections that were sensitive to penicillin rose to 48%.

The policies implemented as a result of her work caused the observed antibiotic resistance in the hospital to drop dramatically. After her successful publications, Barber was hired by the Medical Research Council to study semisynthetic penicillin, cephalosporin, fucidin, lincomycin, and pristinamycin. In 1963, she published Antibiotic and Chemotherapy with L. P. Garrod, an encyclopaedic work on the characteristics and medical uses of various antibiotics. That same year, Barber was appointed a professor; in 1965 she was elected to the Royal College of Physicians.

Throughout her career, Barber was known for being a conscientious and intelligent scientist.