Dora Lush

Dora Mary Lush (31 July 1910 – 20 May 1943) was an Australian bacteriologist.[1]

Lush was born in Hawthorn, Victoria, the daughter of John Fullarton Lush, a clerk, and his wife Dora Emma Louisa (née Puttmann).[1] She was educated at Fintona Girls' School[2] and the University of Melbourne, gaining a B.Sc. in 1932 and an M.Sc. in 1934.[1]

Lush worked at the National Institute for Medical Research, London, from early in 1939. She returned to Australia and worked with Frank Macfarlane Burnet at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research on a scrub typhus vaccine in 1942.[1] On 27 April 1943 Lush accidentally pricked her finger with a needle containing scrub typhus while inoculating a mouse. There was no effective treatment at the time for this often fatal disease. She died four weeks later, on 20 May 1943.[1] Before her death she insisted that blood samples be taken from her to aid research.[1]

Lush was cremated at Springvale Crematorium on 22 May 1943.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Rasmussen, Carolyn. "Lush, Dora Mary (1910–1943)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Lost Life in Cause of Science". The Argus (Melbourne). 21 May 1943.