Professor Emeritus Rosemary Ryall BSc (Hons), PhD, DSc. – “Gifts of the Body and the Needs of Medicine”

Professor Emeritus Rosemary Ryall retired in 2010 from her position as Chief Medical Scientist and Professor of Urological Research in the Department of Surgery at the Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University, South Australia.

Rose’s initial involvement in the urodynamics service of the Urology Unit developed into a role oriented more to basic urological research, with her primary interests focused on biochemical factors, especially proteins, affecting the formation of human kidney stones. She has delivered 50 invited international lectures and published more than 190 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. In recognition of her published work in the field of urolithiasis research she was awarded a Doctorate of Science from the Australian National University in 1998 and a Lifetime Achievement Award by her international stone colleagues in 2012.

In addition to her scientific interests, for many years Rose has been intensely concerned with the ethics of human experimentation, especially that involving the use of human tissues or products, and has often been asked to speak on the ethics of medical research. She was a member of the Flinders Medical Centre Clinical Research Ethics Committee from 1990 until her retirement in 2010, and in 1997 was a founding member of the Human Research Ethics Committee of Calvary Hospital, to which she still contributes.