Elaine Little - Infinite Women

Born: 2 June 1884, Australia
Died: 2 May 1974
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: NA

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.

Elaine Little was a pathologist whose first appointment after graduating in 1915 was to the Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, where she served as pathologist. On finding that women were not allowed to join the Australian Imperial Forces, she made her way to Britain and offered her services as bacteriologist to the British Army Medical Corps. Initially posted to the Lister Institute, she was later in France where she won the respect of colleagues and commanding officers. Returning to Sydney in 1920 Little established one of the first private pathology practices in New South Wales. As well as this successful practice she held appointments as consulting haematologist at Sydney Hospital, and as consulting pathologist at the Royal North Shore and Rachel Forster Hospitals. In 1938 she was a founding Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Chronology
1911: Education – Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Sydney
1915: Career position – Junior Resident Medical Officer, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney
1915: Education – MB, University of Sydney
1915 – 1917: Career position – Senior Resident Medical Officer, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney
1918 – 1919: Military service – First World War. Served with the Royal Army Medical Corps
1920 – 1952: Career position – In private pathology practice, Sydney
1935 – 1936: Career position – President, Medical Women’s Society of New South Wales
1938 – 1974: Career position – Founding Fellow, Royal Australian College of Physicians
1949 – 1962: Career position – Board Member, Rachel Forster Hospital for Women and Children, Sydney
1952: Life event – Retired
1956 – 1970: Award – Fellow, College of Pathologists of Australia
1970 – 1974: Award – Fellow, Royal College of Pathologists of Australia