Satyavati Sirsat obtained her PhD (1958) from University of Mumbai. Sirsat went on to study electron microscopy at the Chester Beatty Research Institute, London. She was associated with the Tata Memorial Hospital for Cancer. As a senior doctoral student there, she was involved when the Department of Pathology at Tata was developed by the government into an independent ‘Cancer Research Institute’. She worked in the fields of cancer research pathology, wound healing and regeneration, viruses and human cancer for more than 50 years. She was the first to establish an electron microscopy lab at Indian Cancer Research Centre, a first in India, which gave Indian researchers the first thorough insight into the detailed cellular structure and offered ways for disease diagnosis through the examination of molecules within organs. She did exhaustive study in fibre and tissue structures of human cancers. She pioneered studies to understand the dangers of oral pre-cancer due to excessive paan and tobacco chewing habits. She was the founder and further served as President of The Electron Microscope Society of India. Later she worked with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Ayurvedic Centre, for a project on the classification of cancer diseases, making use of her rich knowledge in Sanskrit.

Roopa Bai Furdoonji was the first female anesthetist of the world. She was one of the few women to enroll in medical courses at Hyderabad medical college in 1885. She obtained her degree called ‘hakeem’ which was equivalent to that of a medical doctor. The chief surgeon of British residency and the Principal of Hyderabad medical school, Edward Lawrie, guided her to become a specialist in anesthesia. She got a diploma in chemistry and physics from University of Edinburgh, which was very useful for doctors who handled anesthetics. Furdoonji pursued a medical degree from John Hopkins University. She played a major role in introducing the use of chloroform as an anesthetic in India. Her contributions were invaluable due to her widespread knowledge about anesthesia, at both the Chloroform Commissions held in 1888 and 1891.