She worked at Newcastle General Hospital for the majority of her career and received an OBE in 1967 for her services to children's health in Sierra Leone, which included establishing a national immunisation programme.
After spending two years training as a nursery nurse in Highgate, London, she decided to pursue a career in medicine to contribute further to children's welfare.
She was admitted in 1939 to Girton College, Cambridge, for undergraduate studies, and completed her clinical training at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, graduating as MB BCh in 1945.
[1] From 1964, she spent two years in Sierra Leone advising the government on child health policy, which included establishing a national immunisation programme against measles and other childhood infections.
[2] Cooper was interested in a family-oriented approach to paediatrics, believing that children's health relied strongly upon environmental and parental influences.