SHE became the first woman to be given the top job at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and in 2007 she became Director Of Public Health, putting her in charge of 1.2million people and 40,000 staff.

Dr de Caestecker has been dubbed Glasgow's Mrs Motivator and her aim is to turn around the city's poor health record. She has already had a big impact, such as introducing the Positive Parenting Programme, which offers classes for all mums and dads.

When Dr de Caestecker took on the role, it was widened for the first time in Scotland, to include a seat on the senior management team of Glasgow City Council.

The joint role, formalising closer ties between Scotland's biggest health board and local authority, means Dr de Caestecker has an input into a policies that affect the health of all Glaswegians.

Professor Anna Dominiczak, who won the Scotswoman Of The Year title in 2006, backed Dr de Caestecker's nomination.

The Glasgow University medicine boss was the driving force behind the campaign to bring the British Heart Foundation's Cardiovascular Research Centre to Glasgow.

She said: "I am delighted Dr de Caestecker has been nominated. In her role of being in charge of public health, there are a lot of health issues and she is fantastic.

"She is so engaged in improving things. We have had lots of public health experts, both academic and clinical who kept reporting how bad everything is. What we need is action, and Linda is so pro-active.

"We have to improve Scottish health, and she has been extremely active in this area."

Dr de Caestecker is a mother of four and her children include actor Iain de Caestecker, who played the title role in last week's BBC drama Young James Herriot.

She is also on the board of homeless charity Glasgow City Mission and on the commission for Female Offenders to try and help reduce offending and improve their lives. Dr de Caestecker is also involved in planning medical services for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and next year's Olympics in London.

THE Glasgow-born film director has produced movies such as Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar and, more recently, We Need To Talk About Kevin.

The latest film is a teenage killer thriller, starring Tilda Swinton, about a mother's relationship with her son who shoots pupils at his school. It won the Best Movie award at the 55th BFI London Film Festival.

Lynne, 42, has been a star since Small Deaths, her graduation short film, won the Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival – chosen from the official section of movies at the festival – in 1996.

She went on to win another film prize for her second short film Kill The Day and her third movie, Gasman, won yet another Cannes Jury award, as well as a Scottish Bafta for Best Short Film.

Ratcatcher, Lynne's first feature film in 1999, won critical acclaim and numerous awards and was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and opened the Edinburgh International Film Festival, winning her the Guardian New Directors prize.

The Glasgow-based film focused on the coming of age of James in a dirty, smelly 1970s city.

Lynn has also won the Carl Foreman Award for Newcomer in British Film at the 2000 BAFTA Awards, the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival and the Silver Hugo for Best Director at the Chicago International Film Festival.

In 2002 her film Morvern Callar, which follows the story of a girl after her boyfriend commits suicide, won leading lady Samantha Morton the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress and Kathleen McDermott, another star of the film, the Scottish Bafta Award for Best Actress.

And she hasn't stopped there, Lynne is now reported to be working on her first science fiction film – a version of the classic American novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville.

For more than 14 years, she has been working to support deprived children and families in the East End of Glasgow.

During her work as project leader at Family Action in Rogerfield and Easterhouse (FARE) the group has grown from a small number of local people working out a flat to more than 50 staff and volunteers working from a purpose-built centre.

Since 1989 the charity has been helping young people face up to gang culture and violence.

Until June last year it was based in a derelict three- storey tenement in Dalswinton Street, where no one wanted to live because it was the scene of three drug-related deaths.

Now it is based in a new building in Drumlanrig Avenue, which includes a cafe, a hi-tech recording studio and offers lots of clubs and activities for young people in the area.

It makes a real difference to the community and the project impressed businessman Duncan Bannatyne, of TV's Dragons Den, who promised £300,000 towards building the charity's centre – Bannatyne House.

For the last eight years the project has organised the FARE Olympics and this year more than 850 pupils from 20 primary schools took part in the event at Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena.

Rosemary has never allowed the project to deviate from its initial mission – to improve the lives of people living in Rogerfield and Easterhouse by providing them with services and activities in a safe environment.

She has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of families in the East End and the project's work was rewarded in 2005 when FARE won the Breaking Down Barriers award in the Evening Times' Local Heroes awards.

They come from three very different walks of life, and today we highlight the first three contenders for our title of Scotswoman Of The Year 2011. Sarah Swain and Matty Sutton highlight the lives of the women, one of whom could be following in the footsteps of last year's winner, actress Eileen McCallum