(Isabella) Helen Mary Muir

Sitter in 6 portraits
A pioneer of biochemistry, Muir's research proved that osteoarthritis did not occur as part of the ageing process but was an active disease, with environmental and genetic causes. Muir studied medicine at Oxford University but was encouraged by tutor Dorothy Hodgkin to study biochemistry instead. In 1948, she worked closely with Albert Neuberger at the National Institute for Medical Research. Arthritis became the focus of her research while a Fellow at St Mary's Hospital in London and in 1977 she became the director of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology. Horses and hunting were her passions and the bones of foxhounds became valuable research material. Appointed CBE in 1981 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1977.