Maria Alexandra Ratzer was born in 1914 in Czech Republic. From 1935 to 1938 she studied medicine at the German University in Prague, Czech Republic. She moved with her family to Glasgow in 1947 and resumed her medical studies at the University of Glasgow in 1949 , entering the second year. In session 1951-1952 she gained a first class certificate in Dermatology. She graduated MB ChB in 1953 and subsequently MD in June 1961 on completion of her thesis Acne Vulgaris . Her son, Peter Ratzer also graduated in 1961 and this was probably the first occasion that a mother and son graduated together from the University of Glasgow. Following her studies she became a dermatologist and worked in the Southern General Hospital and the Western Infirmary in Glasgow. She became a consultant in 1967 and ran clinics in Oban, Lochgilphead and Dumbartonshire. On retiring in 1979 she continued to work as a locum until around 1990. She died on the 27 June 2007 .
From the guide to the Papers of Maria Alexandra Ratzer, 1914-2007, medical graduate, University of Glasgow, Scotland, c1950, (Glasgow University Archive Services)
