Born: 16 May 1914, Australia (assumed)
Died: 5 July 2000
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: Gwen Joynt
This biography has been shared from The Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, published by the Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Gwen Donald started her working life as a teacher, but returned to university to qualify as a doctor. She was one of eight women among seventy medical graduates at the university of Melbourne in 1944. She undertook her hospital residency at Prince Henry’s Hospital and the Royal Children’s Hospital before entering private practice in Camberwell, Victoria. In the late 1940s Donald travelled to London where she undertook postgraduate studies in paediatrics and allergy. After her return to Melbourne in 1950 she worked in the Royal Melbourne Hospital Allergy Department. She worked in a private allergy practice until she was in her 80s. For many years Donald held the honorary position of medical officer in charge of the Children’s Health Bureau of the Returned Services League.