MB ChB Manch 1950, MD 1958; DA Eng 1953; FFA RCS Eng 1955.
Mackay was born in Manchester on 3 January 1927 and was educated at Manchester Central High School and the University of Manchester, where she won a number of distinctions. She held resident appointments at MRI, Withington Hospital Manchester, St Thomas's Hospital London, and the Hospital for Sick Children, London. She later settled in Wythenshawe, Manchester.