She was both the first woman to be awarded a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree and to register as a research student at the University of Glasgow.

In 1911 she took up the position of First Assistant to Professor J. M. Munro Kerr, who held the Muirhead Chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the university.

She commanded the Girton and Newnham unit of the hospital at Domaine de Chanteloup, Sainte-Savine, near Troyes, France before being posted to Serbia and, three years later, Salonika.

When Marie Stopes sued Dr Sutherland for libel over remarks in the book, McIlroy because a witness for the defence.

[7] She retired in 1934, in her own words 'to gain a few years of freedom'[3] although she continued private practice at Harley Street and other hospitals and clinics throughout London.

At the outbreak of the Second World War she came out of semi-retirement to work as a consultant for the maternity service at Buckinghamshire County Council.

Her particular interest was pre-eclampsia, pain relief during childbirth, managing asphyxia in newborn babies and social issues.

[3] After the Second World War she returned to her retirement and left London to live with her sister, Dr Janie McIlroy, in Turnberry, Ayrshire, Scotland.