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. She was described as being direct - approaching authority without fear, coming quickly to the point, as well as outspoken on issues with which she did not agree. She died in a car accident on 11 September 1965 at the age of 54, along with a companion, en route to a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament meeting. Her colleague described her death as "appallingly sudden and premature." She was known for her distinctive appearance, including glasses, no makeup, a pulled-back hairstyle, and utilitarian clothing. Her hobbies included boating.
Education and career
Formal education In 1928 Barber completed her clinical training at the London School of Medicine for Women. In 1934 she received her joint degree - the MRCS (Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons) and LRCP (Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians) - from the Royal Free Hospital. In 1936 she received the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine-Bachelor of Surgery) From the Royal Free Hospital. Barber took the London M.D. in pathology in 1940.
Career Barber began her career in 1936 as a pathologist at the Royal Free Hospital. While studying for her M.D., she gained experience in a variety of academic and clinical roles. From 1936 to 1937, she was a resident assistant in the hospital's Pathology Unit. During her early career she held numerous positions including house physician, clinical assistant to outpatients, resident pathologist and A.M. Bird Scholar in pathology at the Royal Free Hospital. In 1937 she published her first scientific paper regarding meningitis caused the Listeria bacterium. She became Assistant Pathologist and lecturer in bacteriology at the British Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital. This is when she began her study of the spread of staphylococcal infection in the hospital. 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. She became a reader in bacteriology at St. Thomas's Hospital Medical School in 1948, spending a few months at the Institute Pasteur in Paris during 1950-1951. She left St. Thomas's in 1958, returning to the British Postgraduate Medical School and being promoted to Reader in Bacteriology. Between 1948 and 1958 her focus shifted to studying cross-infection by staphylococcus in hospitals. It was during this time when she discovered that nursing staff were a major contributor to cross-infections in hospitals, as they became nasal carriers of penicillin-resistant bacteria. Apart from the decade spent at St. Thomas's Hospital, she remained at Hammersmith Hospital until death. She was a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Clinical Pathology from 1955 until her death. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she gave many lectures on the issue of antibiotic resistance, publishing numerous papers. Barber was given the title of Professor of Clinical Bacteriology in 1964 by the University of London and in 1965 was elected to the Royal College of Physicians.
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