Barbara Krystyna Turk

Barbara Krystyna Turk (née Zawisza) was born in Battersea, London, and grew up in south London. She left Coombe County School at 16 with 2 O levels, not believing she had a particularly academic future. She worked at St Ebbw’s Hospital and Kennedy Immunology Institute as a laboratory technician and progressed through qualifications at night school at Ewell County Technical College to degree equivalent in immunology

Despite failing to get a grade B in her chemistry A level, Barbara was accepted to study medicine at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School. She qualified in 1985, having passed the “essential” university examinations. She proved that academic performance alone was no predictor of a successful career in medicine. …