Lynne M. Reid

Dr. Lynne Reid is Pathologist-in-Chief emerita at Children’s Hospital Boston and S. Burt Wolbach Professor at Harvard Medical School. Before coming to Harvard in 1976, she was the first woman to achieve the rank of Professor of experimental pathology in England in 1967. Six years later, she was made Dean of the Cardiothoracic Institute at London University. When asked how she made a difference, she replied, “From early on as I advanced my career I wanted to make the playing field more even for women.” Dr. Reid reported that her own mentors were male physicians and surgical teachers who encouraged critical thinking and research at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where she completed her postdoctoral research fellowship, from 1949 to 1951. Among her many accomplishments, Dr. Reid should also be credited for mentoring, as is evidenced by a 1997 female survey participant who recognized her as a mentor.