The Women in Medicine in Ireland Network’s 6th annual conference was held in Belfast on October 5th 2024, and we were delighted to partner with our UK colleagues from the Medical Women’s Federation for the event. Held in the historic Riddel Hall at Queen’s University, we welcomed over 120 delegates in person, as well as an online audience of around fifty attendees.
Our first speaker of the day was Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram, Vice-President of MWF, who gave us a wonderful summary of ‘Her- story of women in medicine in the UK’, and described the role of the MWF over its 107-year existence. Given that the Irish network was only established 6 years ago, this gave us a great insight into what a female doctors’ network can and should achieve.
Our theme for the conference was “Deeds, not words”, reflecting the motto of the suffragist movement, and our next speaker, Professor Louise Crowley from the Department of Law at University College Cork, exemplified this call to action by describing her innovative work around Bystander Intervention programmes. These workshops empower all people to actively combat harassment and poor behaviour when they witness it, and provides tools and techniques to support intervention without causing further harm.
Doctor retention and recruitment is a challenge for all healthcare systems internationally, and Dr Niamh Humphries informed us of the stark data in Ireland where so many of our trainee doctors choose to change country or career in search of better work-life balance. We followed this with a panel discussion from representatives of our training, regulatory and union organisations.
After lunch we heard about innovative research projects in the area of sex and gender. We then moved into an inspiring presentation from Dr Anna McKeever, a former public health doctor and psychiatrist who is now a full-time artist in Belfast. She spoke about the intersection of art and medicine, while displaying many of her gorgeous works of art. She also judged our creative submissions, which had been sent in from our members in advance.
Dr Clodagh Corrigan also inspired the room with her personal story as a disabled doctor working in an unwelcoming health service, and how she has both overcome her personal challenges and made significant progress in improving the experiences of other doctors with disabilities. We had a further panel discussion to share experiences of working in medicine across the island of Ireland, with valuable contributions from Professor Scarlett McNally, President of MWF. Our final speaker of the day was Professor Deborah McNamara, President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, who delivered the third annual Dr Sarah Fitzgibbon Lecture, after which she was presented with our now-customary engraved hammer!
Dr Sarah Fitzgibbon
Chair WiMIN
Fig 1. Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram and Dr Sarah Fitzgibbon at Belfast conference