# Sheila Reith

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{{Short description|British inventor and physician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2026 }}
{{Use British English|date=February 2026}}
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'''Sheila Baillie Mackenzie Reith ''' [CBE](/source/CBE) is a retired British hospital physician, credited with co-invention of the [insulin pen](/source/insulin_pen), which she conceived.

==Career ==

Reith graduated in 1962.<ref>{{cite news |title=Health Check : An A-Z guide to Scotland's physicians : Hospitals S-Z |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/11905404.health-check-an-a-z-guide-to-scotlands-physicians-hospitals-s-z/ |access-date=12 February 2026 |work=[The Herald](/source/The_Herald_(Glasgow)) |date=1 February 2003 |language=en}}</ref> She worked at the [Southern General Hospital](/source/Southern_General_Hospital), Glasgow, from the mid-1970s<ref name="BBC-ckg72dn789ro">{{Cite web |date=2024-10-27 |title=Stirling's Dr Sheila Reith changed the lives of diabetics |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg72dn789ro |access-date=2026-02-12 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> and became a specialist in the treatment of [diabetes](/source/diabetes).<ref name="NHSFV">{{cite web |title=Lifetime Achievement Award for Pioneering Diabetes Doctor |url=https://nhsforthvalley.com/lifetime-achievement-award-for-pioneering-diabetes-doctor/ |publisher=[NHS Forth Valley](/source/NHS_Forth_Valley) |access-date=12 February 2026}}</ref>

She had moved to [Stirling Royal Infirmary](/source/Stirling_Royal_Infirmary) by January 1981.<ref name="BBC-ckg72dn789ro" /><ref name="Paton">{{cite journal |last1=Paton |first1=John S. |first2= Margaret |last2=Wilson |first3=John T. |last3=Ireland |first4=Sheila B.M. |last4=Reith |title=Convenient Pocket Insulin Syringe |journal=[The Lancet](/source/The_Lancet) |date=24 January 1981 |volume=317 |issue=8213 |pages=189–190 |doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(81)90063-5}}</ref>

== Insulin pen ==

Reith's daughter was diagnosed with [Type 1 diabetes](/source/Type_1_diabetes) when she was four.<ref name="NHSFV" /> When her daughter was five, they travelled from Glasgow to London by train, and Reith had to use the public toilets at [Euston Station](/source/Euston_Station) to inject her with [insulin](/source/insulin), a process involving drawing the insulin from a glass phial using a steel [hypodermic syringe](/source/hypodermic_syringe), which would later require being boiled to re-sterilise it. The inconvenience, discomfort and hygiene implications of this situation led her to conceive a reusable, cartridge-based system.<ref name="NHSFV" /><ref name="DUK1">{{Cite web |title=Research on insulin pens |url=https://www.diabetes.org.uk/our-research/about-our-research/our-impact/insulin-pen-research |access-date=2026-02-12 |website=Diabetes UK |language=en}}</ref>

She developed the idea at the Southern General Hospital from 1978 with her colleague and fellow physician John Ireland and John Paton, a bioengineer recruited at the [University of Glasgow](/source/University_of_Glasgow)'s Department of Clinical Physics and Bio-Engineering, for the project.<ref name="BBC-ckg72dn789ro" /><ref name="Paton" />

The invention was announced in a January 1981 paper in ''[The Lancet](/source/The_Lancet)'' by Ireland, Paton and Margaret Wilson, also of Southern General. It described the use of the prototype, based on a device known as the Becton-Dickinson 'Plastipak' self-contained insulin syringe, by seven patients aged from 8 to 49.<ref name="Paton" /> Further clinical trials commenced the same year, using 100 pens and 5,000 insulin cartridges funded by [Diabetes UK](/source/Diabetes_UK).<ref name="BBC-ckg72dn789ro" /><ref name="DUK1" /> Within two years the world's first insulin pen, branded "Penject", entered general use.<ref name="BBC-ckg72dn789ro" /><ref name="DUK2">{{Cite web |title=Dr Sheila Reith, insulin pen pioneer, wins Pride of Britain award |url=https://www.diabetes.org.uk/about-us/news-and-views/dr-sheila-reith-insulin-pen-pioneer-wins-pride-britain-award |access-date=2026-02-12 |website=Diabetes UK |language=en}}</ref>

Reith revealed in a 2009 letter to the ''[Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh](/source/Journal_of_the_Royal_College_of_Physicians_of_Edinburgh)'' that she and her colleagues made no money from the invention, with the then [Greater Glasgow Health Board](/source/Greater_Glasgow_Health_Board) holding the patent on their behalf and receiving income until it sold the rights to pharmaceutical company [Novo](/source/Novo_Nordisk).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reith |first1=Sheila |title=Insulin Pen Devices |journal=[Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh](/source/Journal_of_the_Royal_College_of_Physicians_of_Edinburgh) |date=December 2009 |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=381–382 |doi=10.1177/1478271520093904037}}</ref>

== Awards and recognition ==

Reith and her two collaborators were recognised on 28 March 1984 in an [early day motion](/source/early_day_motion) in the [House of Commons](/source/House_of_Commons_of_the_United_Kingdom), tabled by [Michael Forsyth](/source/Michael_Forsyth%2C_Baron_Forsyth_of_Drumlean) and other MPs.<ref>House of Commons. Parliamentary debates ([Hansard](/source/Hansard)) 28 March 1984; 581.</ref>

She was made a [Commander of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) (CBE) in the [2023 Birthday Honours](/source/2023_Birthday_Honours), "for services to people with diabetes".<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=64082 |date=17 June 2023 |page=B10 |supp=y}}</ref>

She was given a Lifetime Achievement award at the 2024 [Pride Of Britain Awards](/source/Pride_Of_Britain_Awards).<ref name="NHSFV" /><ref name="DUK2" /><ref name="Pride">{{Cite web |title=Lifetime Achievement |publisher=Pride of Britain Awards |url=https://www.prideofbritain.com/2024-winners/lifetime-achievement-5/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241111212853/https://www.prideofbritain.com/2024-winners/lifetime-achievement-5/ |archive-date=2024-11-11 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Personal life ==

Reith's husband David is deceased. She has at least one son and one daughter.<ref name="BBC-ckg72dn789ro" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reith, Sheila}}
Category:Living people
Category:Date of birth missing (living people)
Category:NHS Forth Valley
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:20th-century British medical doctors
Category:British medical doctors
Category:British endocrinologists
Category:20th-century British inventors
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sheila Reith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Reith) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Reith?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.