Brought up in a family which fostered humanitarianism, perseverance, and self- discipline, Alice Bush graduated MB ChB from Otago University in 1937 - one of four women in the class of sixty-three. She worked in hospitals and private practice and took an active role in promoting post-graduate medical education. During the war she was medical officer for the Women’s National Service Corps, and in 1944 published her sex education lectures as a booklet, Personal Relationships. In 1946 she became the first New Zealand woman member of the Australasian College of Physicians and subsequently studied in England, where she gained membership of the Royal College of Physicians and a Diploma in Child Health. From 1950 she specialised in child health, combining private practice with family responsibilities and hospital paediatric work and aiming for the establishment of a specialist children’s hospital.

Eager to foster new ideas, especially in the field of paediatrics, Alice Bush promoted family planning, something that New Zealand was tardy in accepting politically, socially, or medically. She helped develop Parents’ Centres, Family Planning Associations, and the Màori Women’s Welfare League. She also sought to raise understanding of the impact of food allergies. She faced controversy with vigour and readily contributed to public debate on issues of child and family health and relationships, and earned abiding respect for her innovation, commitment, and courage.