Mary Corbett

Mary Corbett, consultant rheumatologist at the Middlesex Hospital, London, from 1969 to 1994, has died of cancer. Her important contribution to her chosen subject of rheumatology was to set up and run a study of the natural history of rheumatoid arthritis as it was then treated—the rheumatoid arthritis prospective study (RAPS). The aim was to obtain a better understanding of the disease and improve its management. This study, and a similar one undertaken by Dr John Cosh at the same time at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath, provided cumulative information about rheumatoid arthritis at a time when treatments were only partially effective and those with severe disease were often not treated at …