DR Elizabeth Rushworth, who has died aged 93, was founder of brain injury charity Headway Oxford and worked in medicine for almost 40 years.

Elizabeth Rushworth (nee Martin), the eldest of three daughters, was born on May 14, 1924 in Paddington, London, to parents Edwards and Philippa Martin, who were both surgeons.

Her mother was an eye surgeon and chairman of the London Eye Hospital and her father a specialist stomach surgeon who taught at University College Hospital.

She was educated at St Paul’s School in the capital before being evacuated at the age of 16 to Wycombe Abbey when the Second World War broke out in 1939.

It was here she learnt to play the piano and she would go on to win three scholarships and use the funds to buy her own piano.

She was later evacuated to St Felix in Norfolk, and while she was studying medicine at University College London, to Bangor and then Leatherhead, where she drove ambulances in the Ambulance Corps and helped with air raid watches.

She completed her degree and qualified as medical doctor in 1948 and took on four house jobs at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in paediatrics, surgery, accident and emergency and medicine before settling into her main role in paediatrics.

After a short period treating tuberculosis at Royal Brompton Hospital and then in Leamington Spa she decided to specialise in neurology and was based at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

Securing an exchange student post to Harvard Medical School, she flew out to Boston to study neuropathology.

It was here she met her future husband Dr Geoffrey Rushworth, who would go on to be an emeritus fellow at Jesus College, Oxford.

Returning to the UK she was first appointed registrar at The National Hospital for Nervous Diseases and then became a senior consultant at St Mary’s Hospital.

She married Mr Rushworth on June 18, 1959 at a church in Chinnor, close her parent’s country retreat and the newlyweds moved to Shotover, which would be their family home for nearly 50 years.

She continued to work as a senior consultant at St Mary’s, commuting to London every day.

The couple had four children, Cassandra, Nicholas, Charles and Paul, all in the 1960s.

Shortly after Paul was born and after a break from work she returned to employment as a researcher at a family planning clinic in Headington.

In 1970 she was appointed as a registrar at Rivermead Rehabilitation Centre in Oxford – a specialist unit for head injuries and strokes.

She moved up to the role of locum consultant before retiring in 1986 when she helped set up Headway Oxford – a charity supporting people with brain injuries and their carers.

As president of the charity for many years it grew and grew and now supports hundreds of people across Oxfordshire each year.

When Mr Rushworth died in 2000 she downsized to a house in Headington.

She became heavily involved in drawing and art in the area, took up swimming, and even went on a college course in Indian cookery.

In 2015 she moved to a care home in Burford where she became spokesperson for the residents and took new recruits under her wing.

She died on August 6 and is survived by her children Cassandra, Nicholas, Charles and Paul and three grandchildren, Peter, Edward and Poppy Elizabeth.

Her funeral will take place at Oxford Crematorium on Tuesday August 22 at 12pm, all are invited and encouraged to wear bright colours.