Professor Jane Grimson

Today, March 24th, is Ada Lovelace Day,  an international day of blogging to celebrate the achievements of women in technology and science. Ada Lovelace is regarded as one of the world’s first computer programmers having  written the world’s first computer programmes for the Analytical Engine, a general-purpose machine that Charles Babbage had invented. I first came across the great lady while studying the programming language “Ada” in my second year of Computer Science at Trinity College Dublin. You can find out more about Ada at the official Ada Lovelace Day website.

My contribution to the day is to write about Professor Jane Grimson. She was the first female engineering graduate of Trinity College Dublin in 1970. I had the privilege of joining her research group KDEG,  in 1991 and acquiring my MSc. in computer science a few years later. As well as inspiring me, she has also inspired my sister, also an engineering graduate and now a lecturer at TCD.

Currently Director of the Centre of Health Informatics, Trinity College Dublin and Acting Director of Health Information, HIQA , she was recently awarded the O’Moore Medal by the Health Informatics Society of Ireland (HISI)  in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the development of healthcare informatics in Ireland and throughout the world.