Mary Broadfoot Walker

Mary Broadfoot Walker
Dr Mary Walker in the 1920s
Born	(1888-04-17)17 April 1888 Croft-an-Righ, Wigtown, Scotland
Died	13 September 1974(1974-09-13) (aged 86)
Education	University of Glasgow Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women
Years active	1913–1974
Known for	Treatment of myasthenia gravis with physostigmine Association of familial periodic paralysis and hypokalaemia
Medical career
Profession	physician
Institutions	St Alfege's Hospital, Greenwich St Leonard's Hospital, Shoreditch St Francis' Hospital, Dulwich St Benedict's Hospital, Tooting Glasgow Royal Maternity and Women's Hospital
Research	Myasthenia gravis Familial periodic paralysis
Notable prizes	Royal College of Physicians Jean Hunter Prize (1962)

Mary Broadfoot Walker (17 April 1888 – 13 September 1974) was a Scottish physician who first demonstrated the effectiveness of physostigmine in the treatment of the condition myasthenia gravis, a disease relating to muscle weakness. She was also the first to recognise the association between familial periodic paralysis and low blood potassium levels.

Mary Walker was born at Croft-an-Righ, Wigtown, Scotland in 1888, one of four children and the daughter of a judge. After school she trained in medicine at the University of Glasgow and Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women, graduating with MBChB in 1913. During the First World War she served with the Royal Army Medical Corps at the 63rd General Hospital, Malta. In 1920 she became a salaried Assistant Medical Officer in "Poor Law Service" at St Alfege's Hospital, Greenwich, London, where she worked until 1936. In 1932 she was awarded Membership of the Royal College of Physicians. She then worked at St. Leonard's Hospital, Shoreditch, St. Francis' Hospital, Dulwich and St. Benedict's Hospital, Tooting, before retiring to Croft-an-Righ in 1954.

In 1934, while working at St Alfege's Hospital, Walker discovered that the subcutaneous injection of physostigmine could temporarily reverse the muscle weakness found in patients suffering from myasthenia gravis. She had noted that the symptoms and signs of myasthenia were similar to those found in curare poisoning, and physostigmine was used as an antidote to curare poisoning at that time. The first case of myasthenia gravis successfully treated with physostigmine was published in the Lancet in June 1934.