Irene Desmet

Irene Marion Desmet (née Irving; 25 March 1928 – 5 March 2020) was an eminent English paediatric and neonatal surgeon.

Career Irving held house posts at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary, before becoming a senior house officer at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where she worked with Peter Paul Rickham and Isabella Forshall, two of the founders of paediatric surgery. After completing her general surgical training at the David Lewis Northern Hospital in 1957, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, she was inspired by Forshall to pursue further training as a paediatric surgeon. In 1978, she co-authored the textbook Rickham's Neonatal Surgery.

Later life Desmet retired in 1986 after being diagnosed with two separate cancers. She died on 5 March 2020.