Dr Mary Josephine Hannan (1859 – 1936)
Women on Walls at RCSI
Dr Mary Josephine 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...
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Dr Margaret (Pearl) Dunlevy (1909 – 2002)
Women on Walls at RCSI
Dr Margaret (Pearl) Dunlevy was an epidemiologist whose championing of immunisation served to eradicate tuberculosis in Ireland. Born in Donegal, Dunlevy received her licence from RCSI in 1932, coming first in her class. After several years training in Britain, including a period as a TB physician in Cardiff, Dunlevy earned a diploma in public health from UCD, again coming first in her 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...
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Dr Emily Winifred Dickson (1866–1944)
Women on Walls at RCSI
Dr Emily Winifred Dickson was the first female Fellow of RCSI. Born in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, she began her studies at RCSI in 1887, two years after the College first admitted female students. Dickson enjoyed a distinguished academic career, winning a number of student medals and receiving her licence in 1891. She earned her MB (Bachelor of Medicine, first class honours, with an exhibition prize) in 1893, the year she was also elected a Fellow of the College, 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...
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Dr Mary Somerville Parker Strangman (1872–1943)
Women on Walls at RCSI
Dr Mary Somerville Parker Strangman was a doctor, suffragist and elected councillor. Born in Waterford, Strangman enrolled at RCSI in 1891, receiving her licence in 1896. After training and lecturing in Britain, she became the second woman to earn the fellowship of RCSI in 1902. She served on the executive committee of the Irishwomen’s Suffrage Federation. As co-founder of the local branch of the Woman’s National Health Association, she worked to combat tuberculosis, the country’s principal killer dis
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Sr Dr Maura Lynch (1938–2017)
Women on Walls at RCSI
Sr Dr Maura Lynch was a surgeon who revolutionised obstetric fistula care in Uganda. Born in Youghal, Co Cork in 1938, 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. She therefore at the age of...
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Dr Victoria Coffey (1911–1999)
Women on Walls at RCSI
Dr Victoria Coffey was one of the first female paediatricians in Ireland. After graduation from RCSI, 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. Appointed lecturer in teratology at Trinity College, she went on to conduct pioneering research on a range of subjects including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
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Dean Mary Frances Crowley (1906–1990)
Women on Walls at RCSI
Born in Wexford, Mary Frances Crowley undertook her professional training in Britain. 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. In 1974, her ambition was realised with the establishment of a Faculty of Nursing at RCSI, the first of its kind in Ireland.
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Dr Barbara Maive Stokes (1922–2009)
Women on Walls at RCSI
Dr Barbara Maive Stokes was a pediatrician and pioneering disability campaigner. Born in London, Stokes studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin, after which she trained as house physician at the Meath Hospital. She earned a certificate in public health from UCD in 1947. Stokes was appointed assistant physician at St Ultan’s Hospital, worked at the Royal City of Dublin Hospital and in the 1950s was Senior Demonstrator in Pharmacy & Physiology at RCSI. Later, she managed St Michael’s House.
info_outlineDr Barbara Maive Stokes was a pediatrician and pioneering disability campaigner. Born in London, Stokes studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, 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 in that field were all within the public service.
Turning to pediatrics, 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, Stokes served on many boards, notably the National Rehabilitation Board and Inclusion Ireland.