Women on Walls - Our Subjects at RCSI

LRCP&SI LM 1932, DPH NUI 1936, FRCPI 1980

Dunlevy was an epidemiologist whose championing of immunisation served to eradicate tuberculosis in Ireland. Dunlevy received her licence from RCSI in 1932, coming first in class. After years training in Britain, Dunlevy earned a diploma in public health from UCD, again coming first in class. She continued her research into TB as assistant medical officer in Dublin, at Crooksling Sanatorium and at St Ultan’s Hospital for Infants, where she was member of the BCG committee (Bacillus Calmette–Guérin: a vaccine primarily used against tuberculosis). The success of Dunlevy’s BCG pilot programme in Dublin led to its nationwide expansion, with further success. In later years, Dunlevy published extensively and was a columnist for the Irish Medical Times. She was President of the RCSI Biological Society, President of the Irish Society for Medical Officers of Health and a member and fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Ireland.

LRCP&SI LM 1891, MB BCh BAO RUI 1893, FRCSI 1893, MAO, MD RUI 1896

Dickson was the first female fellow of RCSI. Born in Co. Tyrone, she began her studies at RCSI in 1887. Dickson enjoyed a distinguished academic career, winning a number of student medals and receiving her licence in 1891. She obtained her MB (Bachelor of Medicine, first class honours, with an exhibition prize) from the RUI in 1893, the year she also earned her fellowship of RCSI, a first for a woman in any college of surgeons in Ireland or Britain. She studied on a scholarship in Vienna and Berlin, and in 1894 on the opening of the Extern Department for Diseases of Women at the Richmond Hospital, Dublin, was appointed as its first gynaecologist; she also served as supernumerary assistant at the Coombe. In 1896 Dickson was appointed examiner at the RCSI; another first for women in Ireland or Britain. In later life, she worked in Britain as a medical health officer and general practitioner.

LRCP&SI 1936, PhD, MA Dub. 1965, FRCPI 1979, LM Coombe 1944, DCH 1943

Coffey was one of the first female paediatricians in Ireland. Coffey worked at the Meath and Coombe Hospitals before being appointed in 1943 as medical officer in charge of children at St Kevin’s Hospital. During this period, she developed her interest in the neglected field of congenital birth defects and began a distinguished publishing career.

Lecturer in teratology at Trinity College, Coffey went on to conduct pioneering research to include metabolic disorders in the newborn and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. In 1979, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Ireland and was also a founding member of their Faculty of Paediatrics. She was the first female recipient of RCSI’s Distinguished Graduate Medal, first woman President of both the Irish Paediatric Association and the RCSI Postgraduates’ Association, and President and founding member of the Irish and American Paediatric Society.

SRN, SCM, RGN, OND, Adm. Cert., President, Nurse Tutors Academic Society, first Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, RCSI

Crowley undertook her professional training in Britain, earning her Registered Nurse Certificate in 1935. She returned to Ireland in 1941 to take up a senior position in Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital. In 1944, she was appointed Assistant Matron of the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital. Immediately after the war, Crowley travelled to northern France as Matron of the Irish Red Cross Hospital at Saint-Lô (the hospital’s storekeeper, interpreter and driver was Samuel Beckett, the future Nobel Laureate). For their work at Saint-Lô, Crowley and her staff were awarded the Medaille de la Reconnaisance Française. Crowley founded the Nursing Training School at the Eye and Ear and became Director of Nursing Studies. In 1974, her ambition of many years was realised with the establishment of a Faculty of Nursing at RCSI, the first of its kind in Ireland or Britain.

MB BCh BAO NUI (UCD) 1964, DObst RCOG 1967, DTM Lisbon 1967, FRCSI 1985

Lynch was a surgeon who revolutionised obstetric fistula care in Uganda. Lynch joined the Medical Missionaries of Mary aged seventeen before studying medicine at UCD. She earned a diploma in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and then studied tropical medicine and Portuguese in Lisbon so that her order could send her to Angola. After nearly twenty years of clinical work in Angola, Lynch saw that the need for a specialist surgeon in the country was not being met. At the age of forty-seven, she undertook further study in Ireland and obtained the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1985. After another two years in Angola Lynch was reassigned to Uganda, where she would remain for the next thirty years. Lynch is credited with more than 1,000 repairs of vesicovaginal fistula, all the while raising funds and awareness of this disease of poverty.

MB, BCh, TCD 1945, DCH RCSI 1946, CPH NUI (UCD) 1947

Stokes was a paediatrician and pioneering disability campaigner. Born in London, Stokes studied medicine at Trinity College after which she trained as house physician at the Meath Hospital. She earned a certificate in public health from UCD in 1947 and hoped to become an epidemiologist, but the marriage bar prevented this as positions were all within the public service. Turning to paediatrics, Stokes was appointed assistant physician at St Ultan’s Hospital; she also worked at the Royal City of Dublin Hospital, and in the 1950s was senior demonstrator in pharmacy and physiology at RCSI. Stokes first involvement with the association that would become St Michael’s House, a community-based service for people with an intellectual disability, was as a part-time volunteer; later she managed the entire organisation. A tireless advocate, she served on many boards, notably the National Rehabilitation Board and Inclusion Ireland.

LRCP&SI, LM Rotunda 1890

Hannan was the first woman both to train and to qualify at RCSI. Born in Dublin, she enrolled in 1886 (a year after women were first admitted) and received her licence in 1890. A short time later she travelled to India to work in several of Lady Dufferin’s hospitals dedicated to female healthcare. In 1896, she established herself as Cardiff’s first practising female doctor. Subsequently, Hannan relocated to South Africa where she became a member of the General Committee of the South African Medical Congress. For many years she worked as a medical officer to native women and lectured in midwifery at the Victoria Maternity Hospital, Johannesburg. A champion of women’s rights, Hannan was a member of the Women’s Enfranchisement League; on occasion she refused to pay taxes which applied to unmarried women but not unmarried men. She also founded the Girl Guide movement in Pretoria.

LRCP&SI, LM 1896 FRCSI 1902

Strangman was a doctor, suffragist and elected councillor. Strangman and her sister Lucia enrolled at RCSI in 1891. After training and lecturing in Britain, Mary Strangman became the second woman to earn the fellowship of RCSI. Establishing a practice in Waterford, Strangman volunteered at various local women’s charities and published research articles on alcoholism and morphine addiction. She was an active suffragist and served on the executive committee of the Irishwomen’s Suffrage Federation (1911 – 1917). As co-founder of the local branch of the Woman’s National Health Association, Strangman worked to combat tuberculosis, the country’s principal killer disease. Seeing the authorities’ poor investment in sanitation, Strangman stood for election on a public health platform and was elected Waterford’s first female councillor in 1912. Retiring from office in 1920, Strangman continued in general practice and as physician at Waterford County and City Infirmary.