Agnes Macfarlane Stark

Agnes (Nan) Macfarlane Stark was born in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, into a farming family with no medical connections. She was encouraged in her medical aspirations by her grandfather despite the disapproval of her mother, who felt it was unladylike. Despite the dangers of wartime Glasgow and the daunting prospect of being one of only 10 girls in her year studying medicine, she enjoyed the rigours of university.

She was offered a Rockefeller scholarship to the US in 1943 but declined as her parents were reluctant for her …