Female firsts

  • 1885 – first female student at RCSI: Agnes Shannon who did not continue.
  • 1886 – first female licentiate: Mary Emily Dowson who simply took the RCSI licence examination.
  • 1890 – first female student and licentiate: Mary Josephine Hannan studied and obtained licence at RCSI.
  • 1891 – first female prize-winner: Isabel W Harper, College prize for a dissection of the axilla.
  • 1893 – first female Fellow of RCSI: Emily Winifred Dickson, by examination.
  • 1920 – first female licentiate in dental surgery: Dorothy Jane Adams.
  • 1939 – first female assistant Registrar: Angela Butler
  • 1951 – first female President of the RCP&SI Biological Society: Margaret Dunlevy LRCSI
  • 1961 – first female professor: Prof. Ethna E Gaffney, Chemistry
  • 1961 – first female head of department: Ethna E Gaffney, Department of Physics
  • 1966 – first female Honorary Fellow: Mother Mary Martin MMM
  • 1967 – first female professor: Ellen C Moorhouse LRCSI, Clinical Microbiology
  • 1968 – first female President of the RCSI Graduates Association: Victoria Coffey LRCSI
  • 1974 – first female Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and founding Fellow: Mary F Crowley
  • 1986 – first female professional librarian: Beatrice M Doran
  • 1988 – first female professor and head of department: Mary Leader, Department of Anatomy
  • 1989 – first female planning and management accountant: Mary Alexander
  • 1994 – first female Member of RCSI Council: Eilis M McGovern FRCSI
  • 1994 – first female financial controller: Mary Alexander
  • 1998 – first female director of finance: Mary Alexander
  • 1999 – first female Head of School of Physiotherapy, and professor of physiotherapy at RCSI: Marie Guidon
  • 2006 – first female Professor and Chair: Hannah McGee, Psychology
  • 2010 – first female President RCSI, and any Royal College worldwide: Eilis M McGovern
  • 2010 – first female Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at RCSI: Hannah McGee
  • 2011 – first female Honorary Doctorate: President of Ireland Mary P McAleese
  • 2013 – first female Head of the School of Postgraduate Studies: Niamh Moran
  • 2014 – first female Head of the School of Nursing & Midwifery, and professor of nursing at RCSI: Zena Moore
  • 2014 – RCSI Professor Mary Cannon was listed in the Thomson Reuters World's Most Influential Scientific Minds