Notable Achievements
We want to recognise the women who were the first to achieve specific milestones and who paved the way for others.| Name | Achievement | Year achieved |
|---|---|---|
| Emily Hancock Siedeberg-McKinnon | First woman medical graduate in New Zealand | 1896 |
| Margaret Barnett Cruickshank Biography | First registered woman medical practitioner in New Zealand | 1897 |
| Alice Horsley (nee Woodward) | First woman medical graduate to practice in Auckland and first woman private practitioner. | 1900, 1903 |
| Daisy Elizabeth Platts-Mills (nee Platts) | First woman to establish a Private Practice in Wellington | 1901 |
| Winifrede Ismay Bathgate | First Otago Medical School graduate of either sex to be appointed to Dunedin Hospital (Position: Assistant Surgeon) | 1906 |
| Catharine Louisa Brookfield (nee Will) | First woman house surgeon at Dunedin Hospital | 1911 |
| Mary Francesca Compere Dowling | First woman to be awarded the New Zealand Medical Travelling Scholarship for Overseas Tuition | 1915 |
| Augusta Manoy (nee Klippel) | First Jewish woman medical graduate | 1922 |
| Marion Aroha Radcliffe-Taylor | First Woman Orthopaedic Surgeon | Acting Surgeon: 1924 Qualified: 1930 |
| Doris Clifton Gordon (nee Jolly) | First Woman in New Zealand & Australia to secure a Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons. | 1925 |
| Kathleen Pih-Chang (Bi Zhen-Wah) | First Chinese and first non-European woman medical graduate | 1929 |
| Pauline Catherine Simcock (nee Aitken and Witherow) | First New Zealand Woman to gain a Diploma of Bacteriology | 1931 |
| Alice Mary Bush (nee Stanton) | First NZ-trained woman to gain membership to the Australasian College of Physicians and first NZ-trained woman to gain a Fellowship for the Royal College of Physicians in London. | 1946; 1970 |
| Rina Ropiha (nee Moore) | First Māori woman medical graduate | 1948 |
| Doris Clifton Gordon (nee Jolly) | Honorary Fellowship for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists | 1953 |
| Papali’i Viopapa “Vio” Annandale-Atherton | First Pacific woman medical graduate | 1964 |
| Dr Mavis Laline MacDougall (nee McClymont) | First New Zealand and Australasian woman to Specialise in Venereology (Diploma in Venereology from the University of Liverpool) | 1971 |
| Barbara Farnsworth Heslop (nee Cupit) | Believed to be the first New Zealand trained woman to receive an Associate Professorship in a Department of Surgery | 1972 |
| Margaret Winn Guthrie (nee Hoodless, Wray) | First woman medical superintendent of a major New Zealand hospital (Burwood Hospital) | 1973 |
| Hendrika (Enny) Jacoba Waal-Manning | Second New Zealand Woman to complete an MD | 1975 |
| Margaret Stuart Smith (nee Riddell) | First Woman President of the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists | 1976 |
| Dame Cecily Mary Wise Pickerill (nee Clarkson) | First medical dame | 1977 |
| Barbara Farnsworth Heslop (nee Cupit) | First New Zealand trained woman employed as Professor of Surgery at the University of Otago | 1984 |
| Robin Helen Briant | First Woman Chair of the New Zealand Medical Council | 1990 |
| Dame Norma Restieaux | First woman president of the New Zealand Medical Association and second medical dame | 1991; 1992 |
First Medical Program
Below is the medical program at the Otago Medical School that the first women graduates went through.| Session | Courses |
|---|---|
| 1st Winter | Biology, Physics, Inorganic Chemistry |
| 1st Summer | Preliminary Hospital Instruction |
| 2nd Winter | Anatomy, Chemistry (intermediate examination) |
| 2nd Summer | Materia Medica, Surgical Wards, Post Mortem Examinations |
| 3rd Winter | Anatomy, Physiology, Surgery, Surgical Wards, P. M. Examinations (First Professional Examination) |
| 3rd Summer | Materia Medica, Pharmacy, Gynaecology or Midwifery, P.M. Examinations (First Professional Examination) |
| 4th Winter | Physiology, Pathology, Practice of Medicine, Medical Wards, Outpatient Department. P.M. Examinations, Midwifery Practice (Second Professional Examination) |
| 4th Summer | Midwifery or Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Children’s Diseases, Vaccination, Insanity, Eye Wards, Gynaecology Wards, Diseases of Skin, Out-Patient Department |
| 5th Winter | Surgery, Practice of Medicine, Medical Jurisprudence, Public Health, All Departments of the Hospital (Third Professional Examination) |
