Dr Margaret Flora Spittle delivered her Semon Lecture in 2002, the second woman to deliver this eponymous Lecture. Her Lecture focused on what mixture of surgical, chemotherapy and radiotherapy management regimes best worked to treat cancers of different areas in the head and neck. She comments that, in determining the best treatment, it is important to recognise that increase in survival is not always the most important aspect and that quality of life must also be taken into account.
Margaret Spittle was born on the 10th of November 1939 in England. Her highly reputable career has seen her focus on breast, head and neck and skin cancers, as well as AIDS related malignancies. Spittle developed the use of whole body electron therapy in the treatment of skin tumours and has published hundreds of papers on a collection of wide ranging topics. She has lectured internationally and advised the government on a number of key issues, including her role on the Government Advisory Committee on Breast Screening. Spittle was also the first female to hold the role of Senior Vice-President of the Royal Society of Medicine.