Cicely Williams
| Cicely Williams | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Cicely Delphine Williams 2 December 1893 Kew Park, Jamaica |
| Died | 13 July 1992 (aged 98) Oxford, England, UK |
| Education | University of Oxford, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
| Occupation | Physician, lecturer |
Cicely Delphin Williams (2 December 1893 – 13 July 1992) was a Jamaican physician, most notable for her discovery and research into kwashiorkor, a condition of advanced malnutrition, and her campaign against the use of sweetened condensed milk and other artificial baby milks as substitutes for human breast milk.
One of the first female graduates of Oxford University, Dr Williams was instrumental in advancing the field of maternal and child health in developing nations, and in 1948 became the first director of Mother and Child Health (MCH) at the newly created World Health Organization (WHO). She once remarked that "if you learn your nutrition from a biochemist, you're not likely to learn how essential it is to blow a baby's nose before expecting him to suck."
Cicely Delphine Williams was born in Kew Park, Darliston, Westmoreland, Jamaica into a family which had lived there for generations. She was the daughter of James Rowland Williams (1860-1916), and Margaret Emily Caroline Farewell (1862-1953). Her father is said to have remarked, when Cicely was nine years old, that she had better become a lady doctor as she was unlikely to find a husband. At 13 she left Jamaica to be educated in England, beginning her studies in Bath and was then awarded a place at Somerville College, Oxford when she was 19. She deferred her place at college, as she returned to Jamaica to help her parents after a devastating series of earthquakes and hurricanes. After the death of her father in 1916 Williams, then 23, she returned to Oxford and began studying medicine. Williams was one of the first females admitted into the course, only because of the dearth of male students caused by World War I.
Williams qualified from King's College Hospital in 1923, at 31, and worked for two years at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, in Hackney. It was here that Williams decided to specialise in paediatrics, acknowledging that to be an effective physician she must have first hand knowledge of a child's home environment and background, a notion which would come to define her medical practice.
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