Name: JEANNE MARGARET COLLISON AO

Qualifications:
MBBS, Sydney, 1952
DA, Sydney, 1956

Date of Birth: 8 April 1929
Date of Death: 13 May 2006

Jeanne Margaret Collison graduated from the University of Sydney in 1952. She followed that with a DA in 1956 and was granted fellowship of the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1957. According to family legend, Collison was advised by a teacher not to study medicine as she would never make the grade.

Collison joined the cardiac team at the Baker Institute at the Alfred Hospital in 1956. After receiving a letter from a colleague in the United States which included a rough sketch of a heart-lung machine, she obtained the necessary materials from unlikely sources and set about creating her own. Collison’s machine was used in the first open surgery at the Alfred Hospital in 1957.

Collison returned to Sydney in 1957 and set up a cardiopulmonary bypass department at the Royal Prince Alfred. She continued to work there for another 20 years. In 1965 she spent a year overseas visiting surgery pioneers and in 1978 set up another bypass unit at Westmead.

Jeanne Collison died in 2006, just eight days after she awarded the Order of Australia.

SOURCES
Form of application for permission to appear before a Court of Examiners for the final Fellowship of the Faculty, 1957; ‘A Trailblazer for Medicine’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 November, 2006; ‘The Australian Women’s Register’, Australian Women’s Archive Project, 7 December 2006.

Can you add any details to this biography?
If so, complete the Contributor Form.