In honor of International Women's Day, we are re-airing our interview with Dr. Averil Mansfield, Pioneering Vascular Surgeon and the UK's first female professor of surgery. She recently published her autobiography, Life in Her Hands.

From a young age, Averil Mansfield wanted to become a doctor. But it was the early 1950s, and women were not expected to pursue a career in medicine. Against all expectations, Dr. Mansfield forged ahead and became a Vascular surgeon in the UK. In addition to her illustrious career, she has worked to support and encourage other women to enter the field of surgery.

Dr. Mansfield was voted one of "100 Women Who Have Changed the World" and founded Women in Surgery, a Royal College of Surgeons initiative to encourage more women to enter the field.

Links and Resources:

• Life in Her Hands: The Inspiring Story of a Pioneering Female Surgeon

About our Guest:

Dr. Averil Mansfield is a retired Vascular Surgeon. She was born into a working-class family and was educated at her local primary and grammar schools in Blackpool and then at Liverpool University graduating M.B.Ch.B in 1960.

She plays the piano and music has been a prominent feature throughout her life. She learned to play the cello in retirement.

After graduation, she trained in surgery in Liverpool and in addition spent two years in the USA.

At the age of 34 she became a consultant general surgeon first in Liverpool and later moved to London. In London she practiced as a vascular surgeon and later [1993] became Professor of Vascular Surgery at Imperial College and Director of the Academic Surgical Unit at St Mary’s Hospital. She was the first woman in the UK to become a professor of surgery and to head up an academic surgical unit. Her research interests centered on thrombosis and on arterial diseases along with their surgical treatment. 

Teaching and passing on skills have always been her passion and she hopes to inspire the next generation to achieve to the maximum of their capabilities.

She has been President of The Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland [the first woman], President of The Vascular Surgical Society [the first woman], and the section of Surgery of the RSM. She was Vice President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and chaired a number of its boards and the Court of Examiners and in 2009 became President of the BMA.

She was recently a member of the working party looking at Diversity in Surgery under the chairmanship of Baroness Helena Kennedy.

In retirement, she chaired the Council of the Stroke Association, the Board of Science of the BMA, and two medical charities. Charitable commitments and ambassadorial roles eg for Liverpool University are a continuing and important feature of her life.

In 2019 she was awarded the Aneurin Bevan Lifetime achievement award at the celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS.

In 2020 she was a castaway on Desert Island Discs.