Born in Forfar, Doig graduated from St Andrews with her MBChB in 1962. At that time, only 1% of UK surgeons were women.

Paediatric surgery

 Despite pursuing surgical training, Doig struggled to get a post in her early career due to pervasive sexism. Paediatric surgery was one of the only surgical specialties open to women. She completed specialist training in paediatric surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital where she received her ChM in 1970.

Most of Doig’s career was spent at the University of Manchester, where she gained an international reputation in paediatric gastroenterology.

Trailblazing

 In 1984, Doig became the first woman elected to the council of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh.

The following year, she served as president of the Medical Women’s Federation, launched in 1917 to promote women in medicine. Her presidential address, ‘The Hands of a Lady’, and her subsequent memoir (Enilorac: Hands of a Lady, 2018) referred to the longstanding assumption that small, delicate hands were preferable in surgeons, thus making women prime candidates.

Doig would make history again in 1994 as the first woman to chair a main committee of the General Medical Council. She wrote in her memoir: ‘I never set out with ambitions in medical politics, but I did set a precedent.’ Doig mentored many women who sought careers in surgery.

By her retirement in 2001, the number of women surgeons had increased fivefold. In her memory, the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh now awards the biennial Hunter-Doig medal to recognise excellence and future potential in surgical practice.

Caroline Doig was international renown in paediatric gastrointestinal surgery and was a mentor and leader for women in the surgical profession.