Telstra Health has announced the successful recipients of the inaugural 2021 Brilliant Women in Digital Health awards, which recognises and celebrates women in digital health for their outstanding achievements, while raising awareness about the opportunities in the sector and inspiring others to follow their lead.
The 25 award recipients, plus the recipients of a team award, have been recognised for their contributions to mentoring, medical research, technology development, improving health outcomes using digital health, and introducing new digital processes for the delivery of health and aged care. The award recipients work across a range of organisations at the forefront of digital health, from public and private sectors, to universities and research institutions, and at innovative new start-ups.
The 2021 Brilliant Women in Digital Health are:
Dr Denis Bauer, Group Leader Transformational Bioinformatics, Australian eHealth Research Centre, CSIRO
Captain Liz Daly, Medical Officer and Professional Services Recruiter – Health, Royal Australian Army Medical Corps and Defence Force Recruiting
Kate Ebrill, Product Manager, Australian eHealth Research Centre CSIRO
Associate Professor Sarah Everitt, CEO and Co-founder MediStays
Kath Feely, Chief Allied Health Information Officer, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Royal Children’s Hospital, The Royal Women’s Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Professor Dorota Gertig, Medical Director, Population Health, Solutions and the National Cancer, Screening Register, Telstra Health
Janette Gogler, Deputy Chief Nursing and Midwifery Information Officer (CNIO), Monash Health
Heather Grain, Course and ISO’s Development Manager, eHealth Education Pty Ltd
Dr Amandeep Hansra, General Practitioner and Digital Health Consultant
Emma Hossack, CEO, Medical Software Industry Association
Professor Evelyn Hovenga, Professor of Digital Health, Australian Catholic University & CEO, eHealth Education
Dr Catherine Jones, Clinical Chest Lead, annalise.ai; Cardiothoracic Radiology Lead and Clinical Director NT/QLD, i-MED Radiology Network; and Clinical Director, Medical Imaging Department, Royal Darwin Hospital
Dr Kudzai Kanhutu, Deputy Chief Medical Information Officer, Telehealth Clinical Lead, and Medical Specialist – Infectious Diseases, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Dr Heather Leslie, Health Informatics Consultant, Atomica Informatics
Zara Lord, Founder and CEO, uPaged
Associate Professor Farah Magrabi, Associate Professor, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University
Gillian Mason, Manager, Stroke Research Register (Hunter) & Clinical Research Assistant, Centre for Rehab Innovations, University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute
Dr Bridianne O’Dea, Senior Research Fellow, Black Dog Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales
Dr Stephanie Partridge, Senior Research Fellow, Engagement and Co-Design Research Hub, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney
Kate Quirke, Managing Director and CEO, Alcidion Group
Angela Ryan, Independent Digital Health Consultant, & Vice-Chair, Australasian Institute of Digital Health
Cathi Ryan, Director, Clinical and Business Intelligence, Digital Strategy and Transformation Branch, eHealth Queensland
Dr Jill Tomlinson, Surgeon, Melbourne Hand Surgery
Professor Karin Verspoor, Executive Dean, School of Computing Technologies, RMIT University
Professor Trish Williams, Cisco Chair & Professor of Digital Health Systems, Flinders University
In addition to the 25 individuals, Telstra Health also recognises the team responsible for the ‘First Nations Dermatology Service – Telehealth‘ at The Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Professor Mary Foley AM, Managing Director of Telstra Health, said: “These awards recognise the outstanding impact these women have made in contributing to the digital health sector in Australia.
“I’d like to thank each award recipient, as well as every person nominated for the 2021 awards, for your contributions and impact made in digital health. In addition, thank you to everyone who took the time to submit a nomination for someone else. It’s often the case that women do not seek to promote their successes, so through these awards we have been able to highlight the achievements of many who may otherwise would go unacknowledged.
“I believe digital health has the potential to lead the digital technology industry in improving gender diversity and women’s leadership. In the future all jobs will be digital jobs in some way and this will be particularly the case in health care.
“Digital solutions have an important role to play in addressing the many challenges which health systems are facing, issues of affordability, access, productivity, quality and safety. For patients, digital technologies offer empowerment and practical support, and can enhance earlier intervention, prevention and care coordination to improve health outcomes for individuals and communities.”
Following a six-week nomination window, which launched in June 2021, more than 140 nominations for the award were submitted, and the submissions were deliberated by five leaders in digital health, healthcare and technology including Professor Christine Bennett AO, Telstra Health Board Director, and University of Notre Dame, Deputy Vice Chancellor, and Head of the School of Medicine, Sydney Campus, Professor Ngiare Brown, National Mental Health Commissioner and Founding Director, Ngaoara, Professor Jane Halton AO PSM, Chair, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Co-Chair, COVAX initiative, Dr Louise Schaper, CEO, Australasian Institute of Digital Health and Michael Walsh PSM, Chair, Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre.
Commenting on the 2021 Brilliant Women in Digital Health awards, Professor Christine Bennett AO, said: “While it was incredibly challenging to come to a shortlist with so many deserving applicants from across Australia, it’s been wonderful to be part of this initiative to recognise women who have and are making amazing contributions to digital health. More than that, these are women who actively inspire and enable opportunities for other women in their career journey.
“Ideally, in 10 years’ time or less, we won’t still be talking about gender but rather brilliant minds. I hope to see a digitally-enabled health sector, that is safe, high-quality, efficient, accessible and responsive to changing needs through innovation led by women and men. Congratulations not only to the final award recipients, but to all the extraordinary women nominated.”
A full list of the successful award recipients and their profiles, as well as their inspiring stories and information around their contributions to digital health can be found in the 2021 Brilliant Women in Digital Health report.
The awards were created as an important component of the Brilliant Connected Women in Digital Health network, which, since launching in October 2020, has grown to nearly 1,000 women and men who work in, or have an interest in, digital health. The 2021 Brilliant Women in Digital Health awards actively support the purpose of the network – to connect, share, inspire and celebrate.
Mary added,“The awards are reflective of the impressive activity within the sector, and we look forward to growing the cohort of Brilliant Women in Digital Health in years to come, with the 2022 awards to be launched by mid-year.”
In February 2022, Telstra Health will be hosting an in-person launch event for the 2021 Brilliant Women in Digital Health awards and this will also be live streamed across the country. To find out more about the Brilliant Connected Women in Digital Health network and to join the growing group, simply go to: www.telstrahealth.com/BCW
This article was originally published by Telstra Health.