Susan Beal is the daughter of doctors David Mitchell Ross and his wife Sheila. Beal has worked as a paediatrician and has done much to advance understanding of the causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and lower its incidence. Her research has been based on her visits to more than 500 families at the time of their infant's death. She was requested to give a lecture at a conference in Graz, Austria, on children's grief following the death of a sibling, and the book listed in AustLit grew from this lecture.
Better known in medical circles, Beal has written approximately fifty articles for medical journals, and several book chapters. She has been made a Member of the Order of Australia for her outstanding work.
