A significant number of distinguished medical researchers and practitioners have been honoured as Australians of the Year. The five individuals shown here are not only leaders in their field, they are also committed and passionate health advocates and communicators.
The two inspirational medical women from Western Australia – Professors Fiona Stanley (AoY 2003) and Fiona Wood (AoY 2005) – have brought public focus to the issues of Indigenous health care and innovative skin cell regeneration in burns research respectively.
The Fred Hollows Foundation, founded in 1992 by eye surgeon Professor Fred Hollows (AoY 1990) just prior to his death, continues to work in communities throughout Asia, Africa and Australia focusing on blindness prevention and Australian Indigenous health.
Paediatrician and hospital director, Dr John Yu (AoY 1996), oversaw the transfer, transformation and expansion of the Children’s Hospital at Westmead (formerly Royal Alexandra Hospital) to the geographic and population centre of Australia’s largest city, Sydney.
More recently, psychiatrist Professor Patrick McGorry (AoY 2010) has advocated for early intervention into youth mental illness, an issue that has attracted public and government support.
