Yvonne Cossart
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Yvonne Edna Cossart AO (14 August 1934 – 16 December 2014)[1] was an Australian virologist who discovered the parvovirus B19 in 1975.[2] Parvovirus B19, or Fifth Disease, causes a mild illness in children.[3]
Cossart graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science in 1957 and MBBS in 1959.[4]
The majority of Cossart's work was on hepatitis, starting in 1967. She was key in testing, survey, and prevention of hepatitis in hospitals and communities.[5] She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours for "service to medicine as a specialist in infectious diseases, especially in the areas of virological research, epidemiology and disease prevention, and to education".[6]
Towards the latter part of her life, Cossart dedicated efforts to developing teaching programs for medical curricula, involvement in university affairs, and supervising post-graduate research students.[7] In 1986, she was appointed as a Bosch Professor of Infectious Diseases and Immunology until she retired in 2006.[8]
Cossart died at Greenwich Hospital on 16 December 2014, aged 80.[9]
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