Margaret B. Horan

Biography

• Born 22 March 1909, eldest daughter of Dr John Burton Cleland CBE (1878-1971), foundation Fellow of the RACP
• 1932 – MBBS, Adelaide University
• 1936 – MRCP London
• 1938-1939 Research assistant at the Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, UK. Commenced work as a house physician in 1939, but with the outbreak of war the Children’s Hospital in Birmingham discharged all patients and she returned to Adelaide by ship
• 1940 – Married Dr John Patrick Horan (1907–1993), a pioneer physician in gastroenterology, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and foundation Fellow of the RACP. They had four children.
• 1941 – MRACP
• 1940-1942 Medical Superintendent, Adelaide Children’s Hospital
• 1954-1973 Staff specialist in pediatrics to Dr John Colebatch (1909-2005) in the outpatient clinic on the Carlton site of Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne
• 1960-1973 Honorary specialist to out-patients at the clinic for children, Queen Victoria Hospital
• 1964 – FRACP
• Died 28 May 2004

Medical Eponyms

Nance-Horan syndrome (1974)

Nance-Horan syndrome (NHS [MIM 302350]) was first described independently by researchers in 1974. In Australia by Margaret B. Horan (pediatrician) and Prof Francis (Frank) Alfred Billson (ophthalmologist); and the United States by Walter Elmore Nance et al, as an X-linked syndrome characterized by congenital cataracts, dental anomalies, dysmorphic features, and, in some cases, mental retardation.

A family is described with Hutchinsonian teeth and segmental and posterior sutural cataracts; an hereditary X-linked basis for both anomalies is suggested. The carrier state in this oculodental syndrome is recognisable by the presence of posterior, sutural, punctuate, opacities in the lens and less pronounced dental abnormalities.

Horan MB, Billson FA. 1974

Nance-Horan syndrome protein: (NHS) gene

Major Publications

• Horan M. Transection of the spinal cord due to injury at birth. Arch Dis Child. 1943;18(96):188-189.
• Horan M. Studies in anaemia of infancy and childhood; the haemoglobin, red cell count, and packed cell volume of normal English infants during the first year of life. Arch Dis Child. 1950;25(122):110-128.
• Horan M. The incidence of infections following splenectomy in childhood. Med J Aust. 1960;47(2):809-810
• Horan M, Venables AW. Paroxysmal tachycardia with episodic unconsciousness. Arch Dis Child. 1962;37(191):82-85.
• Horan M, Colebatch JH. Relation between splenectomy and subsequent infection. A clinical study. Arch Dis Child. 1962;37(194):398-414.
• Colebatch JH, Horan M, Turner EK. Giant hemangioma in the newborn. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. 1965; 1(2): 67-83
• Horan MB. A goodly heritage. An appreciation of the life and work of the late Dr Helen Mayo. Med J Aust. 1971;1(8):419-424.
• Horan MB. A goodly heritage : an appreciation of the life and work of the late Dr. Helen Mayo. Australasian Medical Publishing Co., 1971
• Horan MB, Billson FA. X-Linked cataract and Hutchinsonian teeth. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 1974; 10(2): 98–102

References

Biography

• Paton P. Interviews with the Cleland Sisters. Audiobook : English. 1993
• JOHN HORAN (1907-1993). Chiron, UMMS 1994: 52
• Obituary notice. HORAN, Margaret Burton. Herald Sun. 2004
• McNamara J. Horan, Margaret Burton. RACP College Roll

Syndrome

• Hutchinson J. Report on the effects of infantile syphilis in marring the development of the teeth. Transactions of the Pathological Society of London, 1858; 9: 449-456
• Horan MB, Billson FA. X-Linked cataract and Hutchinsonian teeth. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 1974; 10(2): 98–102
• Nance WE, Warburg M, Bixler D, Helveston EM. Congenital X-linked cataract, dental anomalies and brachymetacarpalia. Birth Defects Orig Artic Ser. 1974;10(4):285-291
• Burdon KP, McKay JD, Sale MM, et al. Mutations in a novel gene, NHS, cause the pleiotropic effects of Nance-Horan syndrome, including severe congenital cataract, dental anomalies, and mental retardation. Am J Hum Genet. 2003;73(5):1120-1130