Stirling doctor and insulin pen pioneer receives CBE in King's Birthday Honours

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A former Stirling doctor who helped invent the world’s first insulin pen for people with diabetes has been awarded a CBE in the King’s Birthday Honours list.Consultant Dr Sheila Reith pioneered the care and treatment for people with diabetes during her career at Stirling Royal Infirmary and was awarded the honour for services to people with diabetes.An NHS Forth Valley spokesperson said this week: “Sheila was instrumental in promoting multidisciplinary care for people with diabetes at a time when this was not widespread, developing a diabetes education centre at the former Stirling Royal Infirmary in the 1980s.”Diabetes UK, who collaborated with Dr Reith and her colleagues on the development of the insulin pen, also congratulated her.A spokesperson for the charity said: “Sheila’s incredible legacy includes her idea and research to develop the world’s first insulin pen.

It made life with diabetes radically simpler and has been used by millions all over the world.“Injecting insulin used to involve drawing it up from a vial and steel needles that had to be sterilised, sharpened and reused.

Sheila knew there had to be a better way.“She teamed up with Dr John Ireland and Dr John Paton and, with Diabetes UK’s support, they designed a new device that would transform how people with diabetes inject insulin.”In the late 1970s, Sheila worked as a doctor in Glasgow and – having a young daughter with type 1 diabetes herself – she knew the practical difficulties of injecting insulin.One day, in the ladies bathroom of Euston railway station, Sheila tried to give her daughter an insulin injection and thought there must be a less fiddly solution.