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

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University of Liverpool graduate Averil Mansfield CBE has published the inspiring story of her journey to become the UK’s first-ever female vascular surgeon and first female Professor of surgery. Today, 17% of surgeons are women, although male consultant surgeons still outnumber females by a ratio of 8:1. Membership of Women in Surgery, which also welcomes medical students, has grown to 6,000. Just 2% of surgeons in the UK were women when Mansfield qualified in the early Seventies. By the Nineties, when 97% of surgeons were male, not much had changed. Fortunately for the thousands of patients whose lives Mansfield went on to save with her pioneering vascular surgery, she was undeterred by his response. We are thrilled to announce that Katie Fulford has sold world all language rights for Life in Her Hands, the “inspirational” memoir from Professor Averil Mansfield to Claire Collins, editor at Ebury Spotlight! Publication is scheduled for February 2023. An audiobook edition, narrated by the author, will be released simultaneously by Penguin Random House Audio.

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a b Hunt, Liz (16 October 1993). "Professor of surgery enters a male theatre". The Independent . Retrieved 8 October 2017. The book, Life in Her Hands, details Averil’s trailblazing career, qualifying as a surgeon in 1972, a time when just two per cent of her colleagues were female. The second thing is to remain focused on that which is most important to you at every stage in your career, particularly if you take on something academic. There will be many demands on your time and it’s very easy to become distracted from what you’re supposed to be doing. But if you really want to do it, go for it. You can do it!Vascular surgery was fairly new when I trained in the sixties but when I watched an operation on an aortic aneurysm, I was captivated by it. I took every opportunity to develop in this area and by the time I became a consultant in 1972, I was a trained vascular and general surgeon. I did both for many years and started work at St Mary’s Hospital in the early 1980s. Women in surgery

Some thoughts on a career in surgery | The Bulletin of the Some thoughts on a career in surgery | The Bulletin of the

Anaesthesia has improved in leaps and bounds during my time as a surgeon. When I started in 1960, anaesthesia was not nearly as sophisticated as it is now and there was no such thing as an intensive care unit. The anaesthetist keeps the patient alive while we surgeons carry out major and, sometimes, quite hazardous procedures. They have the knowledge and skills to maintain the integrity of a patient’s cardiovascular system during the course of the procedure. As surgeons we depend on the anaesthetist and it’s very much a partnership. I’ve worked with some wonderful anaesthetists and I’ve always been grateful for how they ensure patients are well looked after. From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada: Unfortunately, there’s still a feeling that it’s a boys’ game, which is a shame, because it isn’t.” I’ve lived through the advent of ultrasound, CT and MRI scanning, and all have made diagnosis more reliable and help plan for surgery,” she says. Reflecting on her remarkable career, she adds, “As surgeons we’re sometimes operating on people who are on the edge of life, and don’t always succeed in saving them, which is the very worst part of the job. But knowing I have helped save thousands of lives – I still receive letters from people who wouldn’t be here without the surgery I performed – is a very special feeling.”

Of course, women have struggled in the past, but Mansfield, who is 65, insists that surgery can be plain sailing, the perfect career for a woman and.... I believe her. She exudes trust. She is tall, calm, imposing, charming and if I had to have an enormous five-hour, life-threatening operation, I would want her to do it. Mansfield’s reputation was such that Estée Lauder and John Mortimer, of Rumpole of the Bailey fame, were among her celebrity patients. She had the honour of being a guest on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2020, which led to her being asked to write her new autobiography, Life In Her Hands. And now she has retired. Will she miss it all dreadfully? Guess the answer. "No." But I suspect she will be missed. First British woman to be appointed a professor of surgery. President of the British Medical Association (2009-2010). Professor Averil Mansfield spent over 20 years as a vascular surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital. In 1993, she became the first female professor of surgery in the UK and used her profile to encourage more women to join the profession. She served on the council of the Royal College of Surgeons and later as its vice president. She also served as president of the Vascular Surgical Society and the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and, in 1999 was awarded a CBE for services to surgery and women in medicine. In May 2018, she was given an NHS Heroes Award. Professor Mansfield talks to us about her career highlights, being a role model and how her specialty has changed over the years.

Book Review: Life in Her Hands | The Bulletin of the Royal Book Review: Life in Her Hands | The Bulletin of the Royal

However, she is enormously grateful to him for giving her three step-children and six step-grandchildren, to whom she is “very close”.After retiring in 2002, she became chair of the Stroke Association, helping to improve the quality of stroke services throughout the country, and was elected President of the BMA in 2009. I was expected to go down a pole into the ship to administer analgaesia before he could be rescued. Women in Surgery is not about positive discrimination, but giving support that can help women on their way and make sure they get the advice they need.

Averil Mansfield: Britain’s trailblazing female surgeon Averil Mansfield: Britain’s trailblazing female surgeon

There was one man in my clinic at St Mary’s with an aortic aneurysm who stripped naked and laid on the couch for me to examine him,” recalls Mansfield. “Afterwards I said: ‘Put your clothes on and we’ll have a chat’ and he said: ‘When will I see Professor Mansfield?’Mansfield’s gratitude to the supportive colleagues and superiors she encountered – first at Liverpool’s Broadgreen Hospital and later at Hillingdon Hospital and St Mary’s Paddington, in London – was magnified when she heard evidence given to the Royal College of Surgeons Working Party on discrimination in surgery in 2021. Although we were producing lots of female medical students, we were not producing lots of female surgeons,” says Mansfield.

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