E. Tessa Hedley-Whyte papers

Elizabeth Tessa Hedley-Whyte (1937-), M.B., B.S., 1960, University of Durham, England; M.D., with Commendation, 1976, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, is a Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts and a Neuropathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Elizabeth Tessa Hedley-Whyte was born in London, England in 1937 to Sir George Stanley Waller and Elizabeth Margery Hacking, and naturalized in the United States in 1965. She attended the University of Durham, England, graduating with a M.B. and B.S. (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) in 1960. She was awarded an M.D. with Commendation from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 1976, completing a thesis titled, “Cholesterol Localization in the Nervous System.” Hedley-Whyte completed internships and residencies in pathology at Children’s Hospital Medical Center, New England Deaconess Hospital, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, and Boston Lying-In Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts (1960-1965). She also held academic appointments at Harvard Medical School, and in 1991 was appointed Professor of Pathology. Hedley-Whyte also held neuropathology and pathology training program director positions at Beth Israel Hospital (1973-1977), Children’s Hospital Medical Center (1973-1977), New England Deaconess Hospital (1977-1981), and Massachusetts General Hospital (1981-1999).Hedley-Whyte has served as Principal Investigator and Co-investigator of the Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Neuropathology Core.

Hedley-Whyte specializes in anatomic pathology and neuropathology with research and clinical interests in brain tumors, pituitary tumors, neurodegenerative disorders and immunohistochemistry, including the neuropathological diagnosis of Alzheimer disease, correlates in the temporal cortex in dementia with Lewy bodies, and the clinical interpretation of pathologic procedures specific to pituary adenoma biopsies. She has served on national and regional committees such as the Neurological Disorders Program Project Review B Committee, National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke (NINCDS) at the National Institutes of Health (Chairman, 1979-1981), Special Review Committee of the National Institute of Aging (Chairman, 1986). In 2005, Hedley-Whyte received the Award for Meritorious Contributions to Neuropathology by the American Association of Neuropathologists.

Hedley-Whyte married Professor John Hedley-Whyte, son of Colonel Angus Hedley-Whyte, on 19 September 1959.