Susan Anderson Binnie was born on 19 June 1898, at Lynmill, Avonbridge, Stirlingshire. She was the sister of John Binnie, born in 1894. She was educated at Airdrie Academy, and then from 1915 she studied medicine at Edinburgh University where she was among the first women allowed to study with male medical students. Binnie graduated with the degrees of MB and ChB in the early 1920s. Her brother had also graduated as a doctor, and during the First World War he served on submarines.
In the post-War years, John Binnie set up a medical practice in Midcalder and Susan Binnie worked for him in the practice for a short while. She then worked as a pathologist at Bangour Hospital, West Lothian.
On 4 July 1925, at Lynmill, Avonbridge, Binnie married Donald Moodie, an artist on the staff of Edinburgh College of Art. As a young married woman with two small children - Kathleen and Margaret - she found it difficult to keep her medical career going, but she was able to undertake a few locums in the Highlands and Islands, on Papa Westray in Orkney, and on Coll, and in Easter Ross. She twice tried to return to medicine full-time but this just wasn't to be.
Susan Anderson Binnie (Mrs Susan A. Moodie) died on 27 March 1975, in Edinburgh.
From the guide to the Papers of Susan Anderson Binnie (1898-1975), 1913-1922, (Edinburgh University Library)
