Mollie McGeown

Short abstract

Founder of the Northern Ireland Renal Service

Mollie McGeown overcame gender prejudice in 1950s Northern Ireland medicine to build a career that changed the lives of thousands of people affected by kidney failure.

After completing an MD thesis on endocarditis followed by a PhD in biochemistry, she was awarded a five year Medical Research Council fellowship and went on to develop an international reputation in calcium metabolism, hyperparathyroidism, and kidney stone disease.

In 1959 she was appointed to set up a dialysis service for Northern Ireland and carried out the first successful dialysis on a uraemic patient later that year. This was a pivotal moment for patients in Northern Ireland with kidney failure. Over 200 patients in Northern Ireland at that time died each year from this cause.

In 1971 a young woman treated by Mollie for pregnancy related renal failure founded the Northern Ireland Kidney Research Fund, which has to date raised £3m (€4.38m; $5.6m). Mollie was the patron of this fund up to her death.

Figure 1.

By 1968 Mollie had succeeded in having a purpose built dialysis and transplant unit opened at Belfast City Hospital. In 1977 she and her colleagues published the results of the first 100 transplants there, which showed a low mortality rate, and transplant survival figures significantly better than those achieved elsewhere. It was concluded that the most important factors were the use of daringly lower doses of immunosuppressant medication and Mollie's patient care. She went on to chair the United Kingdom Transplant Society management committee and was later involved in its evolution to the present United Kingdom Transplant Support Service Authority.

By the time of her retirement from clinical practice in 1988 Mollie had published over 350 scientific papers, contributing to understanding of kidney stone disease, setting standards in kidney transplantation, and providing valuable epidemiological information on the incidence of kidney failure. In Northern Ireland over 700 patients receive regular dialysis every week, almost 1300 kidney transplants have been carried out, and over 200 new patients with end stage kidney failure are started on treatment each year. There are now five renal units, and the regional unit at the City Hospital is named after her.

Predeceased by her husband, Max, she leaves three sons and one stepson.

Mary Graham (“Mollie”) McGeown, consultant nephrologist 1962-88, president Renal Association 1983-6, professorial fellow Queen's University, Belfast 1988 (b Lurgan 1923; q Belfast 1946; CBE), died from a stroke on 21 November 2004.