Today's #WomanInMedicine is Georgia Vine!
Georgia Vine is an occupational therapist who co-founded AbleOTUK.
Vine co-founded AbleOTUK in 2021 with other disabled occupational therapists. In 2024, Vine released a book challenging ableism in healthcare towards both staff and patients.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Samantha Tross!
Samantha Tross was the UK's first Black female orthopaedic surgeon.
In 2005, Tross completed orthopaedic surgical training, the first black woman in the UK to do so. In 2018, she was the first woman in Europe to perform a Mako robotic hip surgery.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Sarah Walters!
Sarah Walters was the first doctor with cystic fibrosis.
Walters' research showed adults with chronic illnesses treated in specialist clinics had better outcomes than those in general hospitals. This changed national policy on specialist conditions.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Clare Marx!
Clare Marx was the first woman to chair the General Medical Council (GMC) and the first female president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS).
In 2014, Marx became the RCS's first female president. In 2019, she was appointed chair of the GMC.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Mary-Claire King!
Mary-Claire King is a geneticist who identified inheritable breast cancer.
In 1990, King identified the BRCA1 gene. In 1996, the New York Breast Cancer Study of definitively determined that incidence of breast cancer was linked to mutations in BRCA1.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Elizabeth Anionwu!
Elizabeth Anionwu is the UK’s first sickle cell nurse specialist.
In 1972, Anionwu began raising awareness of sickle cell disease. Sickle cell was not an NHS priority as it predominately impacted Black people.
Anionwu was knighted in 2017.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Averil Mansfield!
Averil Mansfield was the first British woman appointed as professor of surgery.
In 1993, Mansfield became professor of vascular surgery at St Mary's Hospital, the UK's first female professor of surgery. In 2023, she was knighted for services to surgery
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Daphne Steele!
Daphne Steele was the first Black woman to be appointed as a matron in the NHS.
In 1964, Steele was appointed as Matron at St. Winifred's Hospital in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Her appointment made international news. She later retrained as a health visitor.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Marie Curie!
Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize.
In World War I, Curie established 200 radiography units and 20 mobile units on the frontline to help surgeons locate fractures, bullets, and shrapnel. This led to widespread use of diagnostic x-rays.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Meg Stacey!
Meg Stacey founded the field of medical sociology.
In the 1960s, she led the project ‘Children in Hospital’. The project showed the benefit of parents taking active roles in the care of their sick children and sparked a move towards more family-centred care.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Henrietta Lacks!
Henrietta Lacks was a farmer whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line.
In 1951, Lacks' cancer cells were found to be immortal. Since then, HeLa cells have been vital to research from vaccines to the impact of space travel on live tissue.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Rosalind Franklin!
Rosalind Franklin was an x-ray crystallographer known studying DNA.
In 1953, Franklin produced Photo 51, an X-ray diffraction image of a DNA strand with a clear double helix. The image helped Crick and Watson identify the true structure of DNA.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Cicely Saunders!
Cicely Saunders is known for the modern hospice movement.
In 1948, Saunders and David Tasma talked about a dedicated home for the dying. He left her £500 (£23,000 now) to build it. She opened St. Christopher’s, the first purpose-built hospice, in 1967.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Gertrude B. Elion!
Gertrude B. Elion was a pharmacologist known for rational drug design.
In 1944, Elion and George Hitchings devised a method of drug development based on biochemical markers, rather than trial-and-error. This method led to AZT, the first drug for HIV.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Virginia Apgar!
Virginia Apgar was an obstetrical anaesthesiologist known for Apgar scores.
In 1952, Apgar developed a scoring method based on the newborn’s vital signs. Later, she led research into the treatment of birth defects at the March of Dimes Foundation.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Helen Brooke Taussig!
Helen Brooke Taussig founded the field of paediatric cardiology.
In 1941, Taussig, Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas developed the Blalock-Thomas-Taussig shunt to treat cyanosis. Within 10 years, they had treated over 1,000 children.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Martha May Eliot!
Martha May Eliot was a paediatrician known for her work on rickets.
In the 1920s, Eliot and Edwards A. Park discovered that rickets can be prevented with sunshine and cod liver oil. In 1946, she represented the USA and signed the WHO’s constitution.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Mary Broadfoot Walker!
Mary Broadfoot Walker was the first person to treat myasthenia gravis (MG) with physostigmine.
In 1962, she received the Jean Hunter Prize from the Royal College of Physicians for her contribution to the fundamental knowledge of the nature of MG.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Louise Pearce!
Louise Pearce was a pathologist known for her work on trypanosomiasis.
In 1913, Pearce began developing drugs to treat trypanosomiasis. In 1920, she did human trials of the drug tryparsamide in the Belgian Congo (now the DRC). The drug cured 80% of cases.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Ethel Collins Dunham!
Ethel Collins Dunham was a paediatrician known for her work with preterm infants.
In 1935, Dunham established national standards for the care of newborns. In 1949-1951, she was part of an international team studying premature birth for the WHO.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Eleanor Davies-Colley!
Eleanor Davies-Colley was the first female Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.
In 1911, Eleanor Davies-Colley was made the first female Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1917, she co-founded the Medical Women's Federation.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Sara Jo Baker!
Sara Josephine ‘Jo’ Baker was a physician known for her work in public health.
In 1908, Baker started midwife training and infant hygiene programs in New York. Within 15 years, New York City had the country's lowest infant mortality rate.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Louisa Martindale!
Louisa Martindale was the UK’s first female GP.
In 1913, Martindale pioneered the use of deep x-ray in Britain for uterine fibroids. She later introduced radium for treating gynaecological cancers. In 1937, she was appointed to the RCOG Council.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Rosemary Rue!
Rosemary Rue was known for championing women in medicine.
In the 1960s, Rue piloted a scheme for female doctors in Oxford to work part-time, making it possible for married women to maintain their careers. It was a huge success and the idea quickly spread.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Edith Cavell!
Edith Cavell was a British nurse known for helping 200 Allied soldiers escape Belgium.
In World War I, Cavell helped Allied soldiers to escape Belgium and return to Britain. In 1915, she was arrested for treason and executed by firing squad.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Margaret Todd!
Margaret Todd was a doctor and novelist known for coining the word ‘isotope’.
In 1886, Margaret Todd enrolled at the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women. In 1918, Todd died and left £3,000 (£350,000 in 2023) for the advancement of women in medicine.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Mary Putnam Jacobi!
Mary Putnam Jacobi was the first woman to study medicine at the University of Paris.
In 1868, Jacobi joined the University of Paris. In 1876, she won a prize for her essay disproving that menstruation made women unsuited to higher education.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Sophia Jex-Blake!
Sophia Jex-Blake was the first practising female doctor in Scotland.
In 1877, Jex-Blake graduated from the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, allowing her to register with the General Medical Council in Britain. She was the third woman to do so.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Elizabeth Garrett Anderson!
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was the first woman to qualify as a physician in Britain.
In 1865, she was licenced to practice medicine by the Society of Apothecaries. The Society changed their rules to prevent other women qualifying this way.
Today's #WomanInMedicine is Elizabeth Blackwell!
Elizabeth Blackwell was the first modern female Doctor of Medicine.
In 1849, Blackwell graduated as the USA’s first female doctor. In 1859, she became the first woman registered with the UK’s General Medical Council.
