To My Mentor Professor Ruth Bowden

Dr Maung Maung Nyo

I still mourn for the death of my mentor

Professor Ruth Bowden, my supervisor

She sustained fatal injuries from collision with car

On 19 December 2001 and she died at age 86 years.

(Professor Ruth Bowden,Left and MMN, Right in 1968)

She was not only my supervisor, but also a mother

She looked after me closely when I was in London

She continued to support me when I was in Burma

She advised me on medical education from England.

(Lake Khone Where Preclinical Sciences Are Taught from 1964 to Date)

I met her first in Rangoon, Burma

When she was visiting South East Asia

On her way back from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

She advised on opening the first medical school there.

(Dr Ba Than, Dean, Surgeon, Burmese Xylophone Player)

In Rangoon, she met Dr Ba Than

Dean of Medical College 1 (one)

Doyen of Burmese doctors and maestro

He entertained her with Pattala or Burmese Piano.

(Major Ko Ko Gyi, Dean of Medical College 2 from 1964 to 1966)

She also met Major Ko Ko Gyi

Dean of Medical College 2 (two)

He introduced me to her as one of the few

I would be sent to England for Ph.D.

If she would accept me as her PG student

She willingly accepted that proposal as excellent.

(Branch Medical Faculty, BMF, Mandalay from 1954-1958. then Faculty of

Medicine, University of Mandalay 1958-1964, Mandalay Medical College 1964

to 1968, then Institute of Medicine or University of Medicine, Mandalay to date )

It was in October 1965 winter

The weather was cool and cleaner

We entertained her in Rangoon and Upper Burma

She was happy and impressed with our endeavors.

(Mandalay Hill, Moat and Mandalay Fort)

So she took me as her mentee

On arrival at the Royal Free

A lady’s college turned co-educational

It was the first women’s medical school international.

The Dean was Physician Ms Francis Gardner

Dame Sheila Sherlock was medicine professor

Professor Ruth Bowden was anatomy chair

Most staff and students were friendly and fair.

So, I studied among the like of mothers and sisters

They were so courteous and kind to me and each other

Whatever I asked or did in my experimental designs

I could do my research completely satisfying to my mind.

Professor Bowden guided me in study

To be righteous and effective smartly

She took me to seminars, symposium and talks

She wished me to be fluent in speech and records.

She looked after my living

She enquired about my routine

She found better one to live about

I was admitted in nearby London House.

(London House, Mecklenburg Square WC1, Where I Stayed from

1966 to 1969)

She would call Mrs Betty Paddon

My English friend in Croydon London

Enquiring about my eating and welfare

She encouraged her to feed me further.

She encouraged me to roam about England

When I had done enough to prevent doldrums

She said Great Britain is better outside London

Visitors and scholars must see the real England.

She introduced me to many renowned anatomists

That I had just heard or seen in books and transcripts

So that we could work together for mutual benefits

It’s her foresight that made me known among scientists.

(Dr Maung Maung Nyo with Ph.D. London Gown)

She supervised me successfully for my Ph.D.

She also guided me how to procure the necessities

She taught me how to teach and tutor students

She did that without funfair or any arrogance.

(University of Rangoon, mother of All Universities in Burma

Since 1920, Logo)

She was kind not only to me

But equally well to other mentees

She had a hot of foreigners studying with her

She did not like saying we studied under her ever.

(A Ph.D. Professor Trained Other Burmese Scientists as M.Sc. and Ph.D.)

She had trained scores of people for higher degrees

They worked for their Ph.D’s or M.D.’s

Many of them became professors in their own fields

She commented I was the best or one of the best among these!

(Am I boasting or blowing my own trumpet? No, it’s the truth she said in 1975.)

(Oxford University Botanic Garden)

She herself was a bright student really

She graduated MBBS from Royal Free in 1939-40

Interned from 1940 to 1942 in medicine and bone surgery

She was then a researcher on peripheral nerve injury

The Oxford University was her place of work and study.

(The Bodleian Library, Oxford University, England)

She then worked as an orthopaedic surgeon

Managing wounds and woes of WW II in England

She then taught anatomy at Royal Free from 1945

She had found her professional choice right.

(Punting in the River Thames at Oxford University)

She became a professor in 1950

She was just only 36 years old you see

She was awarded D.Sc. after seven years

It’s the highest degree University of London confers.

(Tower Bridge, London, England)

She worked relentlessly from then onwards

She was active in teaching and research

She took WHO fellowship and grants to further her adventures

She traveled to America, Africa and Asia for educational endeavors.

She was active in many societies

In anatomy, surgery and physiotherapy

She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine

So was she in Hospice and Royal College of Surgeons.

(Royal College of Surgeons of England, Lincoln's Inns Fields, WC 1)

She was elected twice as President of the Anatomical Society

Life Vice-President of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists

Also of Linnean Society and President of Institute of Science Technology

How did she do it? People wonder for her indomitable spirit and energy!

She was unmarried through out her life

She worked for Indian and London Hospice

She visited India after retirement from service

She was born in Madras that she cherished.

(Professor Ruth Bowden in the Middle With Her Indian Colleagues

in India After Her Retirement)

Dame Professor Ruth Bowden is no more

We can no longer see her pleasant personality

We cannot hear her clear voice exhorting our core

But, her works and contributions remain all to see

I was fortunate to be mentored as her mentee completely

She was not only my teacher but also a mother to me!

(Professor Bowden,Right and MMN, Left in 1968)

Professor Bowden is honoured posthumously by many

Her neurological works are shown in Oxford University

International Medical Women Federation granted a fellowship

It is known as Ruth Bowden Fellowship for women scientists
Others write about her in the professional journals
Professor Bowden is more well known international!

Dr Maung Maung Nyo, 09.03.2009 (original):In Memory of

My Mentor and Mother Professor Ruth Elizabeth Mary Bowden OBE

D.Sc., M.B.,B.S., F.R.C.S., F.R.S.M., LRCP M.R.C.S., DCL3 GCML3