Frank Field, the senior U.K. politician, has co-authored a tribute for prominent pediatric radiologist Dr. Helen Carty in the Guardian newspaper.
He focused on what he believes to be Carty's two outstanding characteristics: her sense of fun and her hospitality.
Dr. Helen Carty. Image courtesy of the ESR."She exulted in her own sense of fun and in seeing the funny side of the pompous. And second, she had a great gift for hospitality," he wrote. "Helen knew which food was best and, combined with a supply of the finest wines, was able to provide cultural evenings in which she and her husband, Austin, always excelled. Culture for them was not only the written word, particularly in poetry, but also in the visual arts, and their home was crammed full of modern, largely nonabstract, artworks that reflected a good eye from Helen, or Austin, or both."
Also in the tribute published on 26 July, Field and his co-author explain how pediatric radiology has changed since Carty entered the field. When she started in 1975 at the Royal Liverpool Children's hospital in Alder Hey, Merseyside, x-rays were the primary tool used for diagnosing children.
"She became a driving force in developing the full range of imaging technology, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, and CT and MRI scanning that is now in use with children, and an important expert witness in cases of child abuse," they noted. "Helen had the vision to see how technology could be used and was especially forceful in making the case for such technology to be made as easily available for young patients as for adults. Thanks in part to her efforts, Alder Hey raised money to provide a CT scanner for children and in 1995 to install one of the first dedicated MRI scanners for children in the U.K."
Carty died earlier this year at the age of 72. The full Guardian tribute may be found here.
