Staff at the hospital told The Guardian that their protest was due to Cilento's racism, homophobia, and a quackery.

She was the daughter of merchant and exporter Charles Thomas McGlew and Alice Lane (née Walker).

[5] Following her marriage, the couple moved to the Malay States where she worked as a "lady medical officer" in the British colonial service and supervised a women's ward in a hospital.

From 1928 onwards she wrote both occasional articles and regular columns for magazines and newspapers under the nom de plume of "Mother M.D."

However, some of her advice was criticised by the medical community as she advocated for natural childbirth, contraception, the legalisation of abortion, and that fathers be present at the birth of their children.

Concerned over the increasing death rate from coronary blockages, she surveyed the scientific literature on vitamin E, including studies showing its benefits in preventing blood clots.

Her travels took her to Singapore, Germany, Britain and North America, where she interviewed doctors and veterinarians who used vitamin E in large doses.

[10] Observing that the Heart Foundation of Australia had refused to investigate the role of vitamin E in cardiovascular disease, Cilento wrote: "I am reminded of the many other occasions when life-saving innovations were delayed for years by the irrational conservatism of the medical Establishment… I myself was ridiculed and dismissed as a crank by a distinguished medical teacher when in 1919 I advocated vitamin D for cases of severe rickets.

"...Once vitamin E jumps the barriers of prejudice, it may well be instrumental in saving the lives and sparing the suffering of many thousands...who will otherwise die.