Professor Helena Teede and Dr Sarah Whitelaw have been honoured as joint recipients of the Australian Medical Association's 2024 Women in Medical Leadership Award for their outstanding leadership, and contributions to healthcare.
The pair have been recognised for influencing national health policy by promoting gender equity and diversity as fundamental pillars of healthcare.
AMA President Professor Steve Robson said the pair's collaborative efforts have significantly influenced national health policy.
"Professor Helena Teede and Dr Sarah Whitelaw are gender equity trailblazers," Professor Robson said.
"I am delighted to honour these two incredible doctors who have shown an unwavering commitment to improving women's participation in healthcare and leadership."
For the past decade, Dr Sarah Whitelaw has been at the front lines of health as a senior specialist emergency physician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) and an advocate for the AMA.
Dr Whitelaw's influential advocacy has earned national recognition, contributing to systemic changes in healthcare leadership and policy.
"I am incredibly grateful to receive this award but I accept it on behalf of a terrific AMA team," Dr Whitelaw said.
"I'm really proud of the work the AMA has done in this area, and I'm honoured to work with the extraordinary Advancing Women in Healthcare team.
"We have a long way to go in terms of our leadership reflecting our profession, but there are so many working so hard to achieve it, and it's important also to look back at what's been achieved."
As chair of the AMA equity, inclusion, and diversity committee, Dr Whitelaw led the development and implementation of major policies, including the AMA's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan 2023–25.
"We want to thank Dr Whitelaw for supporting medical students and doctors with disabilities and for elevating women's participation in healthcare leadership," Professor Robson said.
Professor Helena Teede is Professor of Women's Health and Equity, Monash University, the Director of the Monash Centre for Health Research Implementation and an Endocrinologist at Monash Health, with over 30 years of clinical academic experience.
"My career has focused on women's health and in more recent years I have continued to use research to disrupt the status quo and drive evidence-based change, extending to advance gender equity and leadership in healthcare," she said.
Professor Teede spearheaded the Advancing Women in Healthcare Leadership (AWHL) initiative, which is a national program with 24 large scale partners including the AMA. Together with an amazing team and partner leads including Dr Whitelaw, we have worked to promoting women's leadership and influence in the healthcare sector.
"Healthcare has a 78 per cent female workforce, yet we have major inequity in leadership roles. My focus has been on using evidence to support gender equity and diversity in leadership as a foundation across healthcare, medical research, education and training," Professor Teede said.
Professor Robson said Professor Teede's work has "paved a path or generations to continue in her footsteps".
The two Victorians were awarded the AMA's Women in Medical Leadership Award at the organisation's national conference, AMA24, in Queensland.
