Intended for healthcare professionals

Obituaries

Ruth Porter

BMJ 2013; 346 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f1772 (Published 17 April 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f1772
  1. Jane Garner, Mark Ardern

Ruth Porter was a generous friend and colleague, mentor, and writer, and a creative and innovative clinician in the much neglected specialism of psychotherapy with older adults.

Although she always wanted to be a doctor, Ruth was a keen follower of arts and literature and throughout her life remained ready to quote a well remembered poem from school days. After qualifying she undertook various posts in medicine and paediatrics before travelling to Jamaica as a medical registrar for six months. On her return she went through a period of depression, which she attributed to a failed relationship and protracted grief at the loss of her mother two years previously. Ruth had lost her father when she was 7. This experience sensitised Ruth and left her available and empathic to others in mental distress. When she returned to work Ruth gained her MRCP. After this she left the clinical setting and entered the Ciba Foundation, then a major funder of medical research, eventually becoming a …

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