She met with some challenges in her education because her father and brother Douglas thought it pointless that she studied academic subjects.

On 22 January 1894, she was elected President of the Women Students' Representative Council at its first meeting at Queen Margaret College.

[17][18] Like Gilchrist, she campaigned for women's suffrage in Glasgow[19][20] before setting up a private practice in the West End of London in 1928.

Specialising in ophthalmology, Gilchrist was appointed Assistant Surgeon for Diseases of the Eye at the Glasgow Victoria Infirmary, a post she held from 1914 to 1930.

[22] Gilchrist gave her time on a voluntary basis as physician (1903–11) to Queen Margaret College Settlement's Invalid Children's School.

[11] Gilchrist's achievements were honoured when her home town of Bothwell named a public garden[25] and acar park after her.

[4] In 1932, a gift of £1,500 was used to endow a bed at Redlands Women’s hospital for the treatment of eye diseases which was also named in recognition of her.