I qualified as a State Registered Nurse (SRN) in 1971 and spent most of my adult working life as a senior Accident and Emergency sister. I achieved a BSc(Hons) in Professional Nursing Studies with the University of Hertfordshire. As a wife and mother of five daughters I had to wait until 1997 to gain a BA(Hons) in English Literature and History. I became a lecturer in 1998 and completed a Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) in 1999 with the University of Greenwich. I lectured health professionals and facilitated research projects for nurses and teachers. In 2003 I gained a MA in Health Law and Ethics, at the University of Hertfordshire, which I then taught along with other subjects.

Research

My interests are in the history of legal medicine and I hope to complete a PhD in the study of The Role of the Coroner in the Nineteenth Century: A study of Thomas Wakley and his contemporaries and the development of a medico-legal inquest. The nineteenth century was the period when the coroners’ inquest became medicalised and operated to a medical model. I aim to complete my thesis by 2013.