Pearl Dunlevy

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Dr. Pearl Dunlevy
Born
Bridget Margaret (Pearl) Mary Dunlevy

(1909-08-13)13 August 1909
Donegal, Ireland
Died3 June 2002(2002-06-03) (aged 92)
Dublin, Ireland
NationalityIrish
OccupationPhysician

Dr Pearl Dunlevy (13 August 1909 – 3 June 2002), was an Irish physician and epidemiologist working on TB and was the first woman president of the Biological Society of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland.[1]

Early life and career

Born to George Dunlevy and Maggie Doherty, in

Sir Thomas Myles.[1][2][3][4]

Moving to the UK Dunlevy worked in a number of British hospitals:

Tuberculosis in Children

Returning to Ireland in 1936 Dunlevy graduated in first place from

Carnegie Trust Child Welfare Centre in Lord Edward Street. The aim was to identify children with TB and begin to treat them in such a way as to reduce the amount of time they spent in sanatoria. In part this was due to a shortage of beds.[1][2][4][3]

In 1947, having been appointed a Dublin Corporation TB officer, Dunlevy toured Norway, Denmark and Sweden with three medical colleagues from Dublin Corporation's TB service to investigate the success of the BCG vaccine. By this time she had begun an x-ray and testing program to assess the infection rates and find where infection was most frequently sourced. The following year she was appointed assistant medical officer for Dublin city. She pointed out at the time that medical staff were paid less for tuberculin testing of patients than veterinarians were for the testing of cattle.[1][2][4][3]

Dunlevy had developed a reputation for rigour and organisation and was selected to pilot childhood BCG vaccination scheme in Dublin. Her skills ensured the schemes effectiveness. TB deaths in children and pregnant women had risen during the war and reached a peak in 1947. Vaccination schemes had been tried before but the war had interrupted progress. The new pilot programme began in October 1948. By 1949 childhood deaths had reduced by two thirds. Dunlevy's program focused on statistics and data which enabled them to target specific households and areas for both treatment and vaccination.[1][2][4][3]

James Deeny said that

Dunlevy built up from nothing the highly efficient, beautifully organised Dublin scheme, which ran like clockwork, was availed of widely, produced no unfavourable incidents, reduced childhood tuberculosis to vanishing point, and lowered dramatically the awful incidence of tuberculosis meningitis in babies in Dublin. All this was carried out during the very difficult postwar conditions in the city'

A planned children's sanatorium became unnecessary and was turned into an adult facility due to the success of the scheme. Once the scheme was extended to include newborns at maternity hospitals the reduction in children's deaths from TB was over 82%.[1][2][4][3]

Those doctors who followed the Scandinavian models saw impressive results. Those who took their lead from Britain were less successful. The new Department of Health, the state's chief medical officer James Deeny and minister for health,

Noel Browne contributed to the success of the Dublin vaccination scheme. Dunlevy was appointed by the minister to the national vaccination committee which held its last meeting in December 1978.[1][2][4][3][5]

Later career

During her role as senior assistant chief medical officer in the Dublin Health Authority infectious diseases gradually receded. One of the last major schemes in which she was involved was the

Dunlevy was now an international expert in childhood epidemiology and published papers in the

Journal of the Irish Medical Association. Once retired Dunlevy wrote a regular column for the Irish Medical Times.[1][2][4][3]

Dunlevy was deeply involved in the associations related to her expertise. She was president of the Biological Society of the RCSI in 1952, president of the

Irish Medical Association. She was a member (1978) and fellow (1980) of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI), a member of the faculty of community medicine of the RCPI, and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Ireland (RAMI).[1][2][4][3]

Personal life

Dunlevy's elder sister Annie ('Nan') Josephine Dunlevy (1903–88), also graduated from the RCSI and practised as a psychiatrist in Donegal and Dublin. She also lectured in anatomy at the RCSI. She lived for many years at various Dublin addresses with her sister. She was the aunt of museum curator and costume expert Mairéad Dunlevy.[1][2][4][3]

Dunlevy had a long time companion Kathleen Hughes. She died 3 June 2002 in Dublin, and was buried in Shanganagh Cemetery.[1][2][4][3]

Further reading

  • Pearl Dunlevy papers, RCSI archives
  • Dorothy Price papers, MSS Dept., TCD Library
  • Donegal News, 21 May 1932
  • Ir. Times, 23 June 1936, 25 June 1998, 4/15 June 2002
  • Ir. Press, 22 July 1947
  • Ir. Independent, 15 Jan 1949, 26 June 2001
  • M. Dunlevy, 'Lowered tuberculosis death rates in Dublin children', Journal of the Medical Association of Éire (Apr. 1949)
  • ead., 'Infant BCG vaccination', British Medical Journal (13 Mar. 1954)
  • James Deeny, Tuberculosis in Ireland: report of the national tuberculosis survey (1950–52) ([1954]), 233–5
  • M. Dunlevy, 'Tuberculosis meningitis after BCG', British Medical Journal (27 Dec. 1958)
  • ead., 'Vagaries of BCG-induced tuberculin allergy', Postgrad Medical Journal, xl, no. 81 (1964)
  • ead., 'Striking success of Dublin vaccination programmes', Irish Medical Times, 14 Dec. 1973
  • Irish medical and hospital directory (1976), 140
  • Irish Medical Times, 29 Sept. 1979 * 26 Feb., 18 June 1982
  • Alan Browne (ed.), Masters, midwives and ladies-in-waiting: the Rotunda hospital 1745–1995 (1995)
  • Commission to inquire into child abuse: third interim report (Dec. 2003)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "The Dictionary of Irish Biography".
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Dr. Pearl Dunlevy (1909 – 2002)". - RCSI women. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Played major role in the fight against TB". The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  4. ^
    PMID 27158161
    .
  5. .