Bell, Muriel Emma (1898–1974)

New Zealand nutritionist, medical researcher, and professor. Name variations: Muriel Emma Saunders, Muriel Emma Hefford. Born Jan 4, 1898, at Murchison, New Zealand; died May 2, 1974, in Dunedin; dau. of Thomas Bell (farmer) and Eliza (Sheat) Bell; Victoria University College, c. 1917; University of Otago Medical School, MB, ChB, 1922, MD, 1926; m. James Saunders (laborer), 1928 (died 1940); m. Alfred Ernest Hefford (fisheries inspector), 1942 (died c. 1957).

The 1st woman awarded an MD by University of Otago (1926), worked there as an assistant in physiology (1922) and lecturer in physiology (1923–27); was house surgeon at Dunedin Hospital (1920s); performed research on vitamins at University College, London (1930–32); worked as pathologist at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital (c. 1932); became a lecturer in physiology and experimental pharmacology at Otago Medical School (1935); was a founding member of Medical Research Council (1937), which conducted surveys into diets of workers in tramway and boot and shoe industry, and into Maori diets; served as director of nutrition research at Otago Medical School and state nutritionist (1964); contributed more than 100 articles to Listener from 1941; fought for fluoridation in New Zealand and conducted research into cholesterol and heart disease; made a fellow of New Zealand Institute of Chemistry (1941), Royal Society of Medicine and Royal Australasian College of Physicians (1959). Made CBE (1959).