Dora Challis Colebrook (1884-1965) was a medical doctor and bacteriologist. Her research into the efficacy of

light therapy Light therapy, also called phototherapy or bright light therapy is intentional daily exposure to direct sunlight or similar-intensity artificial light in order to treat medical disorders, especially seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and circadi ...

and the epidemiology of

puerperal sepsis Postpartum infections, also known as childbed fever and puerperal fever, are any bacterial infections of the female reproductive tract following childbirth or miscarriage. Signs and symptoms usually include a fever greater than , chills, lower ab ...

provided the first evidence-based evaluations of these subjects.

Early life

Colebrook was the youngest daughter of May (1838 – 1896) and Mary Colebrook (née Gower, 1845 -) with three brothers and sisters, and seven half-siblings from her father's first marriage. The family lived in Guildford, Surrey until her father died in 1896 when they moved to Bournemouth. Colebrook studied at the

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known simply as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at B ...

in London, gaining her M.B. in 1915 and then M.D. from

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

in 1919. She also gained a Diploma in Bacteriology.

Career

She worked initially at the now defunct

Jessop Hospital __NOTOC__ The Jessop Hospital for Women was a hospital in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. At the time of its closure in 2001, it was managed by the Central Sheffield University Hospitals NHS Trust. History Early history Following a large ...

in Sheffield, Yorkshire as a gynaecologist, then moved to Cambridge in general practice. She then moved to the North Islington Infant Welfare Centre in London. Her career then re-focused on research. She was appointed as the secretary to the Medical Research Council's Clinical and Biological Sub-Committee to the Committee on the Biological Actions of Light after an introduction from her brother, the bacteriologist

Leonard Colebrook Leonard Colebrook FRS ( – ) was an English physician and bacteriologist. Education Colebrook was educated at the Grammar School in Guildford (1891–96), Westbourne High School in Bournemouth (1896–99) and Christ's College Blackheath in Ke ...

. At that time,

from white or ultraviolet light, was becoming increasing popular for an increasing range of conditions. Her research focused on two areas where it was considered to be effective, namely therapy for varicose ulcers and for generically 'sickly' children. A study of 85 patients with varicose ulcers, comparing light therapy with conventional treatment using paste and dressings, indicated that the latter gave a much better outcome. Her second study, of 287 infant school children, despite some problems with the experimental design, also did not demonstrate a beneficial effect of light therapy. The study compared three treatments namely with UV light therapy, a treatment where the UV light was screened from the children using glass, and a control group who were not treated with light therapy. In a later randomised controlled trial of coalminers, office and factory workers, she was again unable to show a clear benefit of light therapy. Her initial findings about light therapy were controversial since the medical consensus in 1920s held that the well-established light therapy was effective. She was still involved in controversy over the efficacy of light therapy into the late 1940s. Colebrook worked with her brother on the epidemiology of

Queen Charlotte's Hospital Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital is one of the oldest maternity hospitals in Europe, founded in 1739 in London. Until October 2000, it occupied a site at 339–351 Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith, but is now located between East Acton and Whit ...

, London where she was a Leverhulme Research Fellow. She investigated the source of the

streptococcal infections ''Streptococcus'' is a genus of gram-positive ' (plural ) or spherical bacteria that belongs to the family Streptococcaceae, within the order Lactobacillales (lactic acid bacteria), in the phylum Bacillota. Cell division in streptococci occurs ...

within the hospital. After collecting samples of the bacteria from patients, their families and hospital staff, she used immunology to identify individual streptococcal strains. This showed that the strains causing puerperal sepsis were not special but were the same ones present in the community that caused sore throats. They were acquired by women after childbirth rather than before. Working together, the Colebrooks showed that streptococci were more likely to originate from hospital staff than from the patient.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colebrook, Dora English bacteriologists 1884 births 1965 deaths Alumni of the University of London 20th-century British medical doctors British microbiologists