Dr Eveleen O’Brien (1901–1981)

Dr Eveleen O’Brien (1901–1981) was a leading figure in Irish asylum medicine, with a particular interest in the care of patients suffering from epilepsy and the crossover between neurology and psychiatry. From 1933 to 1966, O’Brien worked in Grangegorman Mental Hospital. She was appointed Governor of the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum in January 1968 and remained in this position until 1971. An enthusiastic researcher, O’Brien published several papers in the Journal of Mental Science, including Ireland’s first systematic review of insulin therapy (1939). In 1942, O’Brien obtained a doctorate in medicine (MD or Medicinae Doctor) from the National University of Ireland for a thesis titled “Epilepsy and its theories, results of treatment”. O’Brien died in Sutton, North Dublin, on 31 July 1981 at 80 years of age. O’Brien belonged to a remarkable group of Irish women doctors in the early 1900s, each of whom made substantial contributions to the development of Irish medical services and improvement of social conditions, especially for the socially excluded and the mentally ill.