Athlone native awarded honorary doctorate by RCSI
Athlone native Professor Mary Dixon-Woods of the University of Cambridge was conferred with an honorary doctorate by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences on Wednesday, November 20.
Mary is Director of The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute at Cambridge.
The award was given to celebrate her exceptional work in making a significant difference to healthcare through education.
This is a prestigious accolade that recognises excellence and inspiration and celebrates exceptional people who have made a difference to the world through education, research, or service.
The RCSI award is something that means a lot to Mary, who is the daughter of Maire and the late Pat Dixon. Mary has fond memories of growing up in Athlone, where she attended Our Lady’s Bower.
“I was very lucky to benefit from a highly supportive family and excellent education at every stage," she recalls, “and I was never left in any doubt about what women could achieve.
“I had great role models to inspire me, including fantastic teachers.”
Mary’s sister, ComReg Commissioner Helen Dixon, recently opened the Bower Arts Week.
On receiving her award, Mary, who is also Professorial Fellow at Homerton College, Cambridge, said: “I am absolutely delighted to receive an honorary doctorate from the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. My mission in life is to improve the evidence base for improving quality and safety in healthcare.
"I have the great privilege of working with exceptional people at The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute at the University of Cambridge to achieve this. It’s wonderful that the contribution our work has made has been recognised by such a distinguished medical school.”
This honour adds another to her extensive list, which includes being made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, as well as being awarded Honorary Fellowships from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Physicians, and the Royal College of General Practitioners.
When asked what advice she would give those in earlier stages of their research and academic career, Mary said that she firmly believes in the importance of staying curious.
She adds: “I was fortunate to learn about the importance of curiosity from an early age: intellectual curiosity, curiosity about yourself, curiosity about others. Science is all about structuring curiosity using methods and theories and doing that well is what makes a good researcher.
"But what makes a great research leader is curiosity about yourself, so you’re constantly growing and developing as a person, and curiosity about others, so you’re learning all the time and giving back.”
As Director of The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute, Mary’s work involves generating a high quality evidence-base to support improvement in the organisation, quality and safety of healthcare. Her work focuses on understanding problems, co-designing solutions, and evaluation of quality and safety improvement interventions and programmes.
Professor Cathal Kelly, Vice Chancellor of RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences said: “Professor Mary Dixon-Woods has championed high quality evidence-based research that has contributed significantly to pivotal healthcare policy, inquiries and reports.
"We are proud to acknowledge her exceptional contributions to quality and safety in healthcare and she is a most worthy recipient of the RCSI Honorary Doctorate in Science, the highest academic award of our university.”
Founded in 1784 as the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland with responsibility for training surgeons in Ireland, today RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences is an innovative, not-for-profit, international university exclusively focused on driving improvements in human health worldwide through education, research and engagement.