HISTORICAL VIEWPOINT Shaping the future of diabetes treatment through trials at RNSH By Catherine Storey OAM – Honorary Archivist RNSH
In 1923 the Institute of Pathological Research opened on the grounds of RNSH in a small workman’s cottage, “Oakleigh”. Dr William Wilson Ingram, a young Scottish physician/pathologist was appointed the first Director.
On the other side of the world in Toronto, Canada, researchers Banting, Best, Macleod and Collip had discovered insulin in 1921. The team first used the untrialled substance on a young boy dying of diabetes mellitus in January 1922 with miraculous results.
When news first reached Australia, the editor of the Medical Journal of Australia cautioned against accepting the findings without further research. He felt that there had not been sufficient experimental clinical data to warrant its widespread acceptance. Where were the trials? However, by October 1923, Banting and Macleod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery.
By mid-1923, CSL received the licence to manufacture insulin in Australia and began local production. However, the use of the product was initially restricted. When the Director General of Health announced that only certain hospitals (those who could perform a blood sugar level and had a recognised metabolic specialist to oversee its use) would receive a supply of insulin, RNSH was not on the list. Dr Ingram then employed two local medical graduates, Dr Elsie Dalyell and Dr Beatrix Durie, as research assistants to make his own insulin! When insulin became more freely available, the young female graduates continued further experiments into the management of diabetes.
Dr Ingram established one of the first diabetic clinics in Australia at RNSH.
28 Tomorrow’s medicine today
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