Bacteriologist.
Born at Winnipeg on 24 August 1909, only child of Sara [Saida] Campbell (c1879-1966) and Joseph Norris (c1874-1950), she received a BSc degree from the University of Manitoba and an MSc degree from the University of Minnesota. In the 1930s, she started to work with Bruce Chown at the Winnipeg Children's Hospital, rising to become head of the Bacteriology Section. She was credited with doing the first virus work in Manitoba during an epidemic of polio and sleeping sickness in the 1940s and for detecting in 1948 the causes of prolonged infant diarrhoea, a commonly fatal condition. She also identified the cause and treatment of chronic lung infections in children and adults. At one point, she taught bacteriology to medical students at the University of Manitoba. She retired in early 1971, due to poor health, and died unmarried at the Winnipeg General Hospital on 16 September 1971. She was buried in the Brookside Cemetery.
Marriage registration [Sarah Campbell, Joseph Norris], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Obituary [Joseph Norris], Winnipeg Free Press, 31 July 1950, page 28.
Obituary [Sara Campbell Norris], Winnipeg Free Press, 20 September 1966, page 28.
“Tribute paid to pioneer bacteriologist,” Winnipeg Free Press, 6 July 1971.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 18 September 1971, page 40.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 21 April 2022
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