Tail Lights

Abstract

1st October 2023. As autumn leaves fallsoftly and rustle to the ground, this poppedup on my Twitter feed: 52 years ago, the veryfirst CT scan was performed on a person.Godfrey Hounsfield was apparentlyintrigued by the notion of using cosmic raysto find hidden structures without “openingthe box” or entering ancient Egyptianpyramids. This brought to my mind thebeautiful bag Elliot (MedChir President,2022/23) gifted me on behalf of MedChir atthe Alumni Ball 2023. Why? Because the firstwoman featured on the bag is Cleopatra. Iloved it so much I ordered a few more forProfessor Judy Yee MD in New York City. Shewas chuffed and Twitter lit up with requestson where to buy them! (Supporting the localeconomy and all that….!)As we continue striving towards genderequality, I thought I’d share the wonderfulevent Elliot and the MedChir team pulledtogether for International Women’s Day,showcasing 4 amazing women Professors. Itwas a scintillating evening where we wereprivileged to hear and learn about their verydifferent careers and experiencesculminating in Professorships in Medicine.No mean feat by any standards! (Let meknow if you would like to attend anotherevening like this and I’ll see what we can do). Professor Rona Mackie / Lady Black another woman who changed the world!(disappointingly, not pictured on the bag) regrettably could not join us on the night. Asthe first woman appointed to an establishedChair at the University of Glasgow,Professor Mackie is a trailblazer, achievingand continuing to achieve so much in hercareer and life. As one of the foundingmembers of The Academy of MedicalSciences, not only has she been at theforefront of groundbreaking medicalresearch, but has also enabled others tocontinue advancing cutting edge medicine aswell as establishing one of the mostsuccessful medical mentoring programmes. Ihope you enjoy reading our little chat anddraw as much inspiration from it as I didmeeting her! Her vitality and formidability issomething that we should all aspire to!