Lucy Wills (1888-1964): the life and research of an adventurous independent woman - PubMed

Affiliations

• PMID: 19069045

Lucy Wills (1888-1964): the life and research of an adventurous independent woman

H Bastian. J R Coll Physicians Edinb. 2008 Apr.

Abstract

Lucy Wills was one of a pioneering generation of women in medicine and medical research in England. After a double first honours degree in botany and geology from Cambridge in 1911, she travelled to South Africa, where she worked as a nurse during the First World War. Wills then gained a medical degree in London in 1920. By the late 1920s she had developed an interest in haematology and began travelling to India to investigate pernicious anaemia in pregnancy. There she identified a substance often called 'the Wills' factor', which was later recognised as folic acid. Wills undertook a placebo trial of routine iron supplementation in pregnant women during the Second World War, hampered, but not stopped, by bombing. In retirement, she continued to study nutritional effects on health in South Africa and Fiji.

Similar articles

• A history of the isolation and identification of folic acid (folate).

  Rosenberg IH. Rosenberg IH. Ann Nutr Metab. 2012;61(3):231-5. doi: 10.1159/000343112. Epub 2012 Nov 26. Ann Nutr Metab. 2012. PMID: 23183294

• Lucy Wills (1888-1964). A biographical sketch.

  Roe DA. Roe DA. J Nutr. 1978 Sep;108(9):1379-83. doi: 10.1093/jn/108.9.1377. J Nutr. 1978. PMID: 355606 No abstract available.

• [History of the therapy of pernicious anemia].

  Jeney A. Jeney A. Orv Hetil. 2013 Nov 3;154(44):1754-8. doi: 10.1556/OH.2013.29743. Orv Hetil. 2013. PMID: 24161600 Hungarian.

• Chapter 30: historical aspects of the major neurological vitamin deficiency disorders: the water-soluble B vitamins.

  Lanska DJ. Lanska DJ. Handb Clin Neurol. 2010;95:445-76. doi: 10.1016/S0072-9752(08)02130-1. Handb Clin Neurol. 2010. PMID: 19892133 Review.

• [Review by expert group in the diagnosis and treatment of anemia in pregnant women. Federación Mexicana de Colegios de Obstetricia y Ginecología].

  Montoya Romero Jde J, Castelazo Morales E, Valerio Castro E, Velázquez Cornejo G, Nava Muñoz DA, Escárcega Preciado JA, Montoya Cossío J, Pichardo Villalón GM, Maldonado Aragón A, Santana García HR, Fajardo Dueñas S, Mondragón Galindo CG, García Lee T, García A, Hernández de Morán M, Chávez Güitrón LE, Jiménez Gutiérrez C; Federación Mexicana de Colegios de Obstetricia y Ginecología. Montoya Romero Jde J, et al. Ginecol Obstet Mex. 2012 Sep;80(9):563-80. Ginecol Obstet Mex. 2012. PMID: 23243836 Spanish.

Cited by

• Biological Role of Folic Acid in Pregnancy and Possible Therapeutic Application for the Prevention of Preeclampsia.

  Kaldygulova L, Ukybassova T, Aimagambetova G, Gaiday A, Tussupkaliyev A. Kaldygulova L, et al. Biomedicines. 2023 Jan 19;11(2):272. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11020272. Biomedicines. 2023. PMID: 36830809 Free PMC article. Review.

• Interweaving Ideas and Patchwork Programmes: Nutrition Projects in Colonial Fiji, 1945-60.

  Hartley SC. Hartley SC. Med Hist. 2017 Apr;61(2):200-224. doi: 10.1017/mdh.2017.2. Med Hist. 2017. PMID: 28260564 Free PMC article.

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Personal name as subject

LinkOut - more resources

• Medical

  • MedlinePlus Health Information