Jean Mary Sandel

Class of 1939

This biography was compiled from secondary sources. It was written by Daniel Beaumont.

Jean Sandel, 16 Mar 1973. WD.037605, courtesy Puke Ariki, New Plymouth.

Contents

Early Life and Career

Jean Mary Sandel was born in Gisborne on 26 December 1916 to Mary Jessie Gow and Arthur Sandel. Throughout her life she was a devoted Presbyterian. The family moved to Taumarunui when Jean was very young, and she spent her secondary school years as a boarder at New Plymouth Girls High School.  She quickly made a name for herself as a bright student, achieving dux in 1932 and 1933 and serving as head girl in 1933 (1).

From 1934 Jean began studying at the University of Otago Medical School. She continued her trend of achieving highly in academics, obtaining first place in anatomy in 1935 and winning the Scott Memorial Medal in anatomy in 1937 (2). She was awarded her MBCHB in 1939, alongside a Senior Scholarship in medicine and a travelling scholarship, the Waikato times calling her “one of Otago University’s most brilliant students” (3).

Jean planned to use her travelling scholarship to go to England to pursue postgraduate training in surgery, a plan derailed and put on hold by the outbreak of World War II. She instead worked in Wellington Hospital and Hutt Hospital between 1939 and 1945 as a surgical registrar (4).

Postgraduate training and surgical career:

In 1946, Jean was finally able to take up the travelling scholarship and journeyed to England to take up her postgraduate surgical training. Just one year later, she became the first New Zealand woman to be admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS). She continued working in hospitals around England until 1949 before returning to New Zealand, making the voyage from England to Australia as the ship’s surgeon (5).

Medical staff, including Jean Sandel (front row, third from left) , at New Plymouth Hospital, 1969
Medical staff, including Jean Sandel (front row, third from left), at New Plymouth Hospital, 1969. Te Ara.

Back in New Zealand, Jean obtained one of two open surgical positions at New Plymouth Hospital in 1950, where she worked until her death in 1974. She is remembered for having high expectations of the resident doctors and nurses she worked with, and a higher level of dedication to her patients. Because surgery was so male-dominated at the time, Jean had to stand on a box during operations; the operating tables, designed for the average male height, were too tall for her. Eventually, the hospital gave her a stool to use instead (1) (6).

During her time in New Plymouth, Jean became interested in cardiovascular surgery, and in 1957 became a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS). By 1964, she headed the New Plymouth surgical department, which by then consisted of eight surgeons (1) (7).

In her off-hours, Jean enjoyed watching cricket and playing golf and bridge. According to her obituary in the New Zealand Medical Journal, she regularly entertained friends, but the demands of her work meant that she would sometimes struggle to keep her social commitments. During the last years of her life, Jean also tended to her mother, who lived with a long terminal illness. When diagnosed with cancer, Jean continued to perform operations throughout her radiation therapy. She died in 1974, at just 57 years old (8) (1).

Bibliography

  1. Victor Hadlow, “Jean Sandel”, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 2002. https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5s1/sandel-jean-mary
  2. “MEDICAL SUCCESSES,” Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1935, Page 4. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19351129.2.36?query=jean+sandel&snippet=true
  3. “SOCIAL NOTES,” Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20085, 5 January 1937, Page 5. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19370105.2.34.1?items_per_page=10&page=5&query=jean+sandel&snippet=true
  4. “Woman’s World,” Wanganui Chronicle, 10 November 1949, Page 9. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19491110.2.104?items_per_page=10&page=2&query=jean+sandel&snippet=true
  5. “Woman’s World,” Wanganui Chronicle, 10 November 1949, Page 9. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19491110.2.104?items_per_page=10&page=2&query=jean+sandel&snippet=true
  6. “Pioneering Taranaki surgeon Jean Sandel remembered with new portrait” Stuff, 18 June, 2021. https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/300336949/pioneering-taranaki-surgeon-jean-sandel-remembered-with-new-portrait
  7. “Surgeon dies” Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33685, 7 November 1974, Page 6. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19741107.2.47?query=jean+sandel&snippet=true
  8. N. Allen, E. P. Allen, “Obituary: Jean Mary Sandel” New Zealand Medical Journal, 81 (537), 1975. pp. 359 – 360.
Print Friendly, PDF & Email