Lucy Wills, MA (Cantab), LRCP, MB BS (Lond) was a leading English haematologist. She conducted sem
Lucy Wills, MA (Cantab), LRCP, MB BS (Lond) was a leading English haematologist. She conducted seminal work in India in the late 1920s and early 1930s on macrocytic anemia of pregnancy. Her observations led to her discovery of a nutritional factor in yeast which both prevents and cures this disorder. Macrocytic anemia is characterised by enlarged red blood cells and is life-threatening. Poor pregnant women in the tropics with inadequate diets are particularly susceptible. The nutritional factor identified by Lucy Wills (the ‘Wills Factor’) was subsequently shown to be folate, the naturally occurring form of folic acid. During the Second World War she was a full-time pathologist in the Emergency Medical Service. Work in the pathology department was disrupted for a few days in July 1944 (and a number of people killed) when the hospital suffered a direct hit from a V1 flying bomb. By the end of the war, she was in charge of pathology at the Royal Free and had established the first Haematology Department there. After her retirement, Lucy Wills traveled extensively, including to Jamaica, Fiji and South Africa, continuing her observations on nutrition and anemia.” -- source link
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