Sanger, Ruth Anne (1918 - 2001)

Dr Ruth Sanger was an internationally known expert in blood grouping, who for many years worked for the Medical Research Council in London.

Ruth Sanger, the daughter of Hubert and Katharine Mary Ross (née Cameron) Sanger, obtained her Science Degree from Sydney of University in 1940. She then worked in the blood-grouping laboratory of the Sydney Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service. After the Second World War Sanger moved to London and worked for Dr Robert Race, her future husband, at the Medical Research Council. In 1950 she co-wrote Blood Groups in Man, with her husband and they released their sixth and final edition in 1975. Dr Sanger also contributed papers to medical and genetic journals. She was admitted as a fellow of Britain's Royal Society in 1972 and in the same year she was a joint receiptant of the Gairdner Foundation Award. In 1983 Dr Sanger retired as director of the British Medical Research Council, a position she had held for ten years. She was a member of the International Society of Blood Transfusion and an affiliate of similar groups in Canada, Germany, Mexico and Norway. The British Blood Transfusion Society has established the Race and Sanger Award.

• Race, Ruth Ann (married name, 6 April 1956 - )

Events

1936 - 1939	Attended the Women's College within the University of Sydney
1936 - 1939	Played in the inter-Varsity basketball team
1937	Treasurer of the Women's College dance committee
1938	Awarded Caird scholarship in zoology
1938	Secretary of the Women's College dance committee
1938	Member of the Students' House committee
1938	Vice-captain of the basketball team
1938	Honorary treasurer of the basketball club
1939	Awarded the Grace Frazer scholarship
1940	Graduated Bachelor of Science (BSc)
1940	Worked with the Science Research School in the Department of Zoology at the University of Sydney
1940 - 1946	On the scientific staff of the New South Wales Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service
1946	Travelled to London to work with Dr R Race, director of Medical Research Council's Blood Group Unit
1946 - 1973	Scientific staff member of the Blood Group Unit of the Medical Research Council, London
1948	Awarded her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from the University of London
1949	Returned to Sydney and worked with the Blood Transfusion Service
1957	Awarded the Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award (with R Race), United States of America
1970	Awarded the Philip Levene Award, United States of America
1972	Awarded a Fellow of the Royal Society, London
1972	Awarded the Gairdner Foundation Award, Canada
1973	Awarded the Oliver Memorial Award for Blood Transfusion from the British Red Cross
1973 - 1983	Director of the Blood Group Unit of the Medical Research Council (London)
1990	Received Doctor of Medicine (MD (Honoris Causa)) from the Helsinki University
1990	The Ruth Sanger Oration established by the Australasian Society of Blood Transfusion
1991	Awarded a gold medal from the Australasian Society of Blood Transfusion

See also

• Annable, Rosemary (ed.), Biographical register : the Women's College within the University of Sydney, Council of the Women's College, Sydney, 1995, 269 pp. [ Details... ]