Una Maclean

Una was a medic and academic who worked across clinical medicine, public health and anthropology to better understand and prevent disease.

She graduated top of her class from the University of Edinburgh in 1949 and went on to build a career that combined research, teaching, and public health practice. After graduating she worked for a number of years in Aden, a city in Yemen, and later in Nigeria, where she worked with local doctors to allow their patients to benefit from western medicine.

Her work focused on how social and cultural factors influence health, helping to shape the field of social medicine. She was also a prolific writer and encouraged students and colleagues to consider a wide range of perspectives when studying illness and healthcare.

A teacher for more than 20 years at the University of Edinburgh’s department of community medicine, she went on to become a senior reader and acting head of department, and was later admitted as a fellow to the city’s Royal College of Physicians.