Dr Dorothea Sandars

Dr Dorothea Sandars was born in Perth in 1919 and excelled at school graduating from the University of WA in 1943 with a Bachelor of Science with first class honours. She went on to complete a Masters in 1944. Dorothea worked on biological specimens from the Antarctic, was a lecturer at numerous institutions and conducted extensive research into parasitology. Dorothea was awarded a Fellowship from the International Federation of University Women (FUW) to further her studies at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and obtained her first PhD in 1956 from the University of London. Dorothea was an extremely active academic and involved with numerous societies, associations and committees. She was passionate about the FUW and after attending the 14th International Conference of FUW in Mexico in 1962, extended an invitation that the 15th conference should be held in Australia. Dorothea convened the world conference in Brisbane in 1965 hosting over 700 delegates from 32 countries. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1995 from the University of Queensland for her 50 year contribution to the university. In her later years Dorothea was cared for by her longtime friend Ms Irene Lee, a triple certificated nurse. Before Dorothea passed away in 2002, she and Irene agreed that the Churchill Trust would be a major beneficiary of her Estate and that a number of perpetual Churchill Fellowships would be established. The first of these was a Fellowship for the study of parasitology, Parkinson’s Disease and advances in medicine in general. The subject matter for this Fellowship stemmed from Dorothea’s love of parasitology, her interest in Parkinson’s Disease following the publicity about the Disease and the actor Michael J Fox, and her love for medicine in general. Irene Lee honoured the memory of Dorothea through the award of perpetual Churchill Fellowships. The Trust is honoured to continue Dorothea’s passionate support for furthering educational opportunities for all Australians.