As part of Women’s History Month, we take a look at the life and work of Diana Beck, the UK’s first female neurosurgeon
As part of Women's History Month, we take a look at the life and work of Diana Beck, the UK's first female neurosurgeon, who died 70 years ago this year.
One of The Walton Centre's neurosurgeons, Miss Catherine Gilkes (pictured below right), previously wrote a paper to recognise Miss Beck's achievements after coming across her obituaries in The Times and BMJ during training at Bristol's Frenchay Hospital in 2008.
Miss Gilkes said, “One of the consultants mentioned to me that a woman had founded the unit. I was surprised about that because I'd no idea that was the case, but I had her name and did a bit of digging.”
Diana Beck was elected consultant neurosurgeon at the Middlesex Hospital in 1947, the first woman to have been appointed as such in one of the big London teaching hospitals. Ironically, the hospital did not at the time admit female medical students.
She had graduated in 1925 from the London (Royal Free Hospital) School of Medicine for Women and specialised in neurosurgery, training under the neurosurgeon Professor Hugh Cairns in Oxford. At the time, it was a relatively new specialty.
During her 31-year career, she was the only female neurosurgeon in Western Europe and the United States.
Miss Gilkes added, “Diana was pretty remarkable. She set up the neurosurgical unit at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol and at the Middlesex Hospital where she was the first female to be appointed to the staff. At the time it was a completely male consultant body, so she was probably the only female doctor in the establishment.
“When I entered neurosurgical training over 20 years ago, it was still relatively rare for women to progress in the specialty. Not as unusual as it was in Diana Beck's day, but still unusual. I would say that some of the challenges I've found in my career have possibly been similar to hers, but not on the scale she would have experienced.”
In 2024, Diana Beck was finally recognised with the unveiling of an English Heritage blue plaque, 99 years after she first qualified in medicine, at her former home and consulting rooms at 53 Wimpole Street, in London's Marylebone.
Miss Gilkes said, “One of my mentors in London who had worked and trained at the Middlesex was shocked he'd never heard of her. I described how, in Bristol, there were pictures of all the founders of the unit and she didn't really feature. Likewise at the Middlesex, he was using her office and had no idea that she'd been there and so supported the nomination to English Heritage.
“It was lovely to finally see some recognition for Diana; there should be more, but this was a positive first step.”
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