An Post launch stamps featuring inspirational female medics

For International Women’s Day, An Post launch a set of new stamps featuring four inspirational women medics to recognise the crucial role women have placed in improving health care standards in Ireland.   

The two contemporary medics featured are Professor Rhona Mahony, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and the first women Master of the National Maternity Hospital (2012-18) and Professor Janice Walshe, Consultant Medical Oncologist and National Principal Investigator for many international breast cancer trials. Both Professor Mahony and Professor Walshe are Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI).  

RCPI played an important part in the history of women’s access to medical education. In 1876, following over a decade of campaigning by women, legislation was passed allowing medical colleges to accept women to sit their exams. In January 1877, RCPI became the first institution in Britain or Ireland to allow women to sit their exams, and Dr Eliza Walker Dunbar passed both parts at the first attempt.

An Post’s stamps also honour two historical women medics; Dr Emily Winifred Dickson (1866-1944) the first women Fellow of RCSI, and Dr Kathleen Lynn (1874-1955), co-founder of St Ultan’s Infant Hospital, which was managed entirely by women. Dr Lynn was a leading figure in the Irish suffrage and nationalist movements at the start of the twentieth century. She was the Chief Medical Officer for the Irish Citizen Army during the Easter in 1916 and was elected TD for Dublin in 1923. RCPI is extremely fortunate to hold Dr Lynn’s diaries in our Heritage Centre, where they are the most consulted item by researchers. 

Harriet Wheelock, RCPI’s Keeper of Collections and co-author of The Diaries of Kathleen Lynn, said ‘It is fantastic to see these two pioneering women featured on stamps. Both Dr Dickson and Dr Lynn were trailblazers in their day, who promoted women’s access to the medical profession and devoted their careers to improving patient care amongst some of the most vulnerable portions of the population. His is an overdue celebration of their achievements and will hopefully inspire future generations’. 

You can buy your Women Medics stamps here