Sister Elizabeth Kenny was a self-trained Australian bush nurse who developed an approach to treating polio that was controversial at the time. Her method, promoted internationally while working in Australia, Europe and the United States, differed from the conventional one of placing affected limbs in plaster casts. Instead she applied hot compresses, followed by passive movement of the areas to reduce what she called "spasm". Her principles of muscle rehabilitation became the foundation of physical therapy or physiotherapy in such cases.
Elinor Catherine Hamlin, AC, FRCS, FRANZCOG, FRCOG was an Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist who, with her husband, New Zealander Reginald Hamlin, co-founded the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, the world's only medical centre dedicated exclusively to providing free obstetric fistula repair surgery to poor women with childbirth injuries. They also co-founded an associated non-profit organisation, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia.
Ruth Katherina Martha Pfau, FCM was a German–Pakistani Catholic Christian religious sister and physician who was a member of the "Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary". She emigrated from Germany in 1961 and devoted more than 55 years of her life to fighting leprosy in Pakistan. Pfau was honoured with the Hilal-i-Pakistan-, Hilal-i-Imtiaz-, Nishan-i-Quaid-i-Azam-, and the Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam awards.
Grace Margaret Wilson was a high-ranked nurse in the Australian Army during World War I and the first years of World War II. Wilson was born in Brisbane, and completed her initial training as a nurse in 1908. After the outbreak of World War I she joined the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) and subsequently transferred to the First Australian Imperial Force. From 1915 until 1919 she was the principal matron of the 3rd Australian General Hospital. She served as the temporary matron-in-chief in the AIF Headquarters, London from late 1917 until early 1918. Wilson returned to Australia in 1920 and left the AIF to work in civilian hospitals. She was appointed the matron-in-chief of the AANS in 1925, and in September 1940 joined the Second Australian Imperial Force. She served in the Middle East until August 1941, when she returned to Australia due to ill health. She left the Army the next month, but from September 1943 worked in the Department of Manpower Directorate (Victoria)'s nursing control section.
Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd Bennett MB CM MD was an Australian New Zealand doctor, a Chief Medical Officer of a World War I medical unit for which she was awarded the Serbian Order of St Sava and later was awarded an O.B.E. for her services in improving the health of women and children.
Fiona Melanie Wood is an Australian plastic surgeon and burns specialist working in Perth, Western Australia. She is the director of the Royal Perth Hospital burns unit and the Western Australia Burns Service, and developed spray-on skin in collaboration with Marie Stoner. In addition, Wood is also a clinical professor with the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia and director of the Fiona Wood Foundation.
Cecil Evelyn Aufrere (Mick) Cook was an Australian physician and medical administrator, who specialised in tropical diseases and public health. He was appointed as Chief Medical Officer and Protector of Aborigines for the Northern Territory in 1927. He established much of the infrastructure of the public health system there, including four hospitals, a tuberculosis clinic, a nursing school and the Nurses’ Board of North Australia. He started the Northern Territory Aerial Medical Service together with Dr Clyde Fenton, and he was founding chairman of the Northern Territory Medical Board.
Katie Louisa Ardill,MB ChM was an Australian medical doctor. She was the first woman to be appointed as a divisional surgeon in New South Wales, and a year later was among the first female doctors when she joined the British Expeditionary Forces in Egypt in 1915.
Grace Cuthbert-Browne was an Australian medical doctor instrumental in improving the health of mothers and babies, and the consequent reduction in maternal and infant deaths in Australia. She was Director of Maternal and Baby Welfare in the New South Wales Department of Public Health from 1937 to 1964; during this time the infant fatality rate decreased form 40 to 20 per thousand live births.
Elsie Jean Dalyell was an Australian medical doctor who specialised in pathology. During World War I, she served in the Royal Army Medical Corps across Europe, and was appointed an Officer of Order of the British Empire upon the conclusion of the war. In 1927 she co-founded a veneral disease clinic.
Claudia Portia Burton Bradley was an orthopaedist, paediatrician and pharmacist. Her main area of work and research was cerebral palsy, which led her to become the first medical director of the Spastic Centre of New South Wales and the founder of the Australian Cerebral Palsy Association.
Susie O'Reilly was an Australian family doctor and obstetrician. She practiced on the North Shore in Sydney in the first half of the 20th century. Despite graduating fourth in her year from Medicine at the University of Sydney, her application for residency at Sydney Hospital in 1905 was rejected in favour of male applicants with a poorer academic record.
Nanette Stacy Waddy was an Australian psychiatrist, who spoke out against the mistreatment of mental patients at Gladesville and Callan Park Mental Hospitals in the 1950s. Later she provided input to the development of Australian government policy in the field of drug and alcohol abuse.
Fanny Reading was a Jewish Australian community leader and medical practitioner.
Dr Ernest Woodward Price MD, FRCSE, DTM&H, OBE was a missionary doctor, orthopaedic surgeon, leprosy specialist and the discoverer of podoconiosis, one of the neglected tropical diseases. A list of his publications is available online.
James Sunter Muecke is an Australian ophthalmologist working in Adelaide, South Australia. He was the 2020 Australian of the Year, having been South Australian of the Year. He was sworn in as South Australia's new Lieutenant Governor on 27 January 2022, succeeding Brenda Wilson.
Diana Glen Horvath is an Australian medical doctor, researcher and administrator and the first female chair of the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Suzanne Mary Packer AO is an Australian paediatrician and advocate for the rights of children. She was granted Officer of the Order of Australia in 2021 for "distinguished service to children through roles in health, welfare and protection initiatives" and previously a member of the Order of Australia in 1999 for "services to child welfare, paediatrics and the public". As of 2021 she is a clinical senior lecturer at ANU Medical School, Australian National University.
Naomi Wing was an Australian physician who specialised in rheumatology and rehabilitative medicine.
The Leprosy Mission Australia (TLMA) is a Christian medical charity dedicated to eradicating leprosy, and supporting those affected by the disease. An independent Australian charity, it is an active member of Leprosy Mission International (LMI) a global federation working in 28 countries. With a history dating back to 1913, TLMA focuses on providing medical treatment, rehabilitation, education, and advocacy for people affected by leprosy, especially those in marginalised communities.
