Maria do Rosario Carvalho Torres

bmj;394/aug10_7/e100447/VS1F1vs1Maria was born in the small rural village of Pêga in northern Portugal, where her family were mostly involved in small scale farming. She was a shy and studious child, and her parents instilled in her a strong work ethic and ambition for a better life. After leaving school she was awarded a scholarship to study medicine at the University of Coimbra. During her studies she met her future husband, Peter, while hitchhiking to the beach with a friend. After qualifying in 1978 she held a variety of resident training posts across several hospitals in Coimbra and Peniche.In 1983 she moved to Scotland and married Peter, later having two children, Sophie and Rosanna. She obtained her GMC registration in 1987 and began her GP training in Edinburgh in 1990. She became a GP partner at Bellevue Medical Centre in Edinburgh in 1992. In her clinical practice she had keen interests…