Norah Schuster

Norah Henriette Schuster FRCPath (14 July 1892 – 14 March 1991) was a British pathologist and the first woman to take the pre-clinical medical course at the University of Cambridge. She was the first woman to be appointed as a doctor at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and, in 1950, the first female president of the Association of Clinical Pathologists.

A prize is awarded in her memory by the Royal Society of Medicine's History of Medicine Society.

Early life Norah Schuster was born on 14 July 1892, the daughter of the German-born British physicist Arthur Schuster who was the first to report the findings of Wilhelm Röntgen about X-rays in the United Kingdom. Later in life, Norah described her father's initial uses of bedside X-rays taken in Manchester in 1896. He gave public lectures on the new technique which Norah and her brother attended, X-rays of their hands and feet being used to illustrate the proceedings for which a ten minute exposure was required due to the weakness of the rays. where she obtained a first class degree in the natural sciences tripos. In 1916, while still a student, Schuster worked as an unpaid assistant in the pathological laboratory of professor Henry Dean at the Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) in order to ease the staff shortage caused by the First World War. and she qualified in medicine at the University of Manchester in 1918 A few years later, in 1925, she married the surgeon Marriott Fawckner Nicholls but continued to practise using her maiden name.

Personal life She played cricket and lacrosse and was captain of the Women's Northern Universities fencing team. She played viola and was a good horsewoman. A selection of her light verse was included in her memoir of 1983.

Death and legacy Schuster died on 14 March 1991. The Norah Schuster Prize is awarded annually in her memory by the History of Medicine Society at the Royal Society of Medicine. After paying tribute to Schuster and her affection for the history of medicine, the winning students present their essays, often followed by a discussion.

Selected publications Medical "Ætiology and pathology of primary lung tumours", The Journal of Pathology, Vol. 32, No. 4 (October 1929), pp. 799–811. "Pulmonary asbestosis in a dog", The Journal of Pathology, Vol. 34, No. 6 (1931), pp. 751–757. "Familial hæmorrhagic telangiectasia associated with multiple aneurysms of the splenic artery", The Journal of Pathology, Vol. 44, No. 1 (January 1937), pp. 29–39.

Historical "Stephen Roodhouse Gloyne. 24th December 1882 – 25th September 1950", The Journal of Pathology, Vol. 63, No. 2 (April 1951), pp. 345–352. "The Royal Chest Hospital", British Medical Journal, 17 October 1953. "Isaac Buxton, 1773-1825. Founder of the Royal Chest Hospital", Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, April 1955. "History of the Royal Chest Hospital", Northern Lights, the Staff Magazine of the Northern Group of Hospitals, 1955. (two parts) The Western General Dispensary, St Marylebone. St Marylebone Society Publications, No. 5, 1961. "Early Days of Roentgen Photography in Britain", British Medical Journal, 3 November 1962, 2 (5313), pp. 1164–1166. "English Doctors in Russia in the Early Nineteenth Century", Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol. 61, No. 2 (February 1968), pp. 185–190. "The emperor of Russia and the Royal Humane Society", Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Vol. 21 (1971), pp. 634–644. A Clinical Pathologist Day by Day 1916-1960. Norah H. Schuster, London, 1983. Memoirs written for the Royal College of Pathologists in response to enquiries from later generations as to how a hospital laboratory was run before the Emergency Medical Service for the war period (1939-1945) and before the Royal College of Pathologists (1963) came into existence. Publication held at the Royal Society of Medicine Library, London.