Ann Woolcock

Ann Janet Woolcock was born in Reynella, South Australia on 11 December 1937. She was the oldest of four children.{{cite web |work= Interviews with Australian Scientists |url= https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-ann-woolcock-1937-2001 |title= Professor Ann Woolcock (1937-2001), medical scientist |date=2000 |publisher=Australian Academy of Science |first=Jonathan |last=Stone }} After attending Reynella Public School, she completed her secondary education in Adelaide at Walford Church of England Girls Grammar. She then went on to study medicine at the University of Adelaide before beginning her postgraduate studies in respiratory medicine at University of Sydney to complete a thesis on the mechanical behaviour of lungs in asthma (awarded 1967){{cite web |website=Asthma Foundation |publisher=Asthma Australia |url=http://www.asthmaaustralia.org.au/Professor_Ann_Woolcock.aspx |title=The Late Professor Ann Woolcock |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814063541/http://www.asthmaaustralia.org.au/Professor_Ann_Woolcock.aspx |archivedate=14 August 2014 }}{{cite web |title= Teachers' notes - Professor Ann Woolcock (1937-2001), medical scientist |url= https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-ann-woolcock-1937-0 |publisher= Australian Academy of Science }} with a focus on hyperinflation.

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During 1966 and 1968, Woolcock lived in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and worked at McGill University as the Overseas Research Fellow for the Asthma Foundation of NSW. She then returned to the Department of Medicine, University of Sydney as a senior research fellow of the Asthma Foundation of NSW and then Basser Research Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians She was appointed as senior lecturer at the University of Sydney Department of Medicine in 1973 and became associate professor in 1976. Woolcock went on to be appointed to a personal chair in 1984.

Woolcock published over 300 journal articles and book chapters, making major contributions to the field of asthma research. Her early work was influential, revolutionising understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of the physiology of airway obstruction of acute asthma.

She worked in the New Guinea Highlands, Sydney and rural New South Wales in later work focusing on allergen sensitivity, airway responsiveness and the development of asthma in children. Woolcock's work on asthma epidemiology and population health resulted in her international acclaim as she led research in the field in Australia, promoting respiratory health throughout the Asia–Pacific region.

She instigated the organisation of Asthma Research Days in Sydney. The aim of these events was to encourage collaboration and communication between researchers in the field.

In 1985, Woolcock founded the Institute of Respiratory Medicine, based at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. In 2002, the institute was renamed Woolcock Institute of Medical Research in memory of her, following her death in 2001.

In 1968, Woolcock married Ruthven Blackburn (1913–2016), a professor of medicine at the University of Sydney,{{cite web |url=https://sydney.edu.au/medicine/museum/mwmuseum/index.php/Blackburn,_Charles_Ruthven_Bickerton |title=Blackburn, Charles Ruthven Bickerton |website= Sydney Medical School |publisher= University of Sydney |accessdate=23 April 2017}} later emeritus professor Blackburn AC.[http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/professor-charles-blackburn--a-life-spent-in-service-of-medicine-and-his-country-20160523-gp1q6v.html Professor Ruthven Blackburn - a life spent in service of medicine and his country], 27 May 2016, Sydney Morning Herald. The couple raised two sons, Simon and Angus.{{cite web |url=https://www.racp.edu.au/page/library/college-roll/college-roll-detail&id=225 |title=College Roll: Woolcock, Ann Janet |publisher=The Royal Australasian College of Physicians |author=C. Jenkins |access-date=2019-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814062016/https://www.racp.edu.au/page/library/college-roll/college-roll-detail%26id%3D225 |archive-date=2014-08-14 |url-status=dead }}

She died on 17 February 2001 in Sydney.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

• Officer of the Order of Australia in 1992
• Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, 1992
• Corresponding Member of the Académie de Médicine Française in 1993
• Society Medal of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, 1998
• Distinguished Achievement Award of the American Thoracic Society, 1998
• European Respiratory Society Presidential Award 2000 for Enhancing the Profile of Respiratory Medicine Worldwide
• Honorary Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Ferrara, Italy 2001

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Category:1937 births

Category:2001 deaths

Category:Australian medical researchers

Category:Scientists from Adelaide

Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science

Category:Australian women medical doctors

Category:Australian medical doctors

Category:Australian pulmonologists

Category:20th-century Australian women scientists

Category:Officers of the Order of Australia

Category:Medical doctors from Adelaide