Celebrating International Women's Day 2023

On the eighth of March each year, people worldwide commemorate International Women’s Day (IWD) to acknowledge the significant contributions and accomplishments of women, and to mobilise efforts towards achieving gender equality in various social, cultural, and political and economic domains.

At the Faculty of Medicine, we take immense pride in our exceptional and inspiring women, who are invaluable members of our student, alumni, academic, professional staff and wider UQ communities.

These women not only proactively challenge the University’s culture and systems, but also make industry-leading, momentous changes every day through award winning teaching, pioneering social and cultural initiatives, and research with worldwide impact.

This International Women’s Day, we caught up with five of our academics to hear what inspires and motivates them to work in the area of women’s health.

Professor Gita Mishra

For Professor Gita Mishra, it’s about benefitting the lives of women.

After completing her PhD in statistics, Professor Mishra wanted to apply this expertise in this area.

“At the time much of the health data was based on studies of men. We needed to shine a light on the specific risk factors and distinct development of chronic conditions in women.”

It was this drive that led Professor Mishra to take up directorship at UQ of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health – a national flagship study since 1996.

“My main research interest is in life course epidemiology and women’s health, especially in relation to chronic conditions in later life.”

In addition to her Director role at ALSWH, Professor Mishra is also the founding director of the Australian Women and Girls’ Health Research Centre at the School of Public Health.

“In 2022 I was honoured to receive the 2022 RANZCOG award for Excellence in Women’s Health. I feel this is recognition for my team in creating the Centre as a world-leader in epidemiologic research in women’s health.”

“We have produced compelling evidence in this field, that alongside the contributions of international collaborators, has begun to see a shift in the development of policy for women’s health. They look towards a life course approach where early health promotion can play a more effective role in disease prevention.”

“There has been significant change in the scale and scope of the data we now have available. Initially we relied on regular surveys, but now we can link this to medical records. This means we can identify when and how conditions are treated and then match with survey data on physical and mental health to see if it helped.”

“While the complexity and size of these anonymised datasets have grown way beyond anything we could have imagined, it has opened many exciting avenues for new research to develop more timely health strategies for women.”

It is this determination that inspires those around Professor Mishra – the tenacity she shows in continuously furthering women’s health and empowering the next generation of women to own their health journeys.

“I believe that maintaining good health across the different life stages can be challenging. Reliable information from trusted sources that is personally relevant and available to all groups of women is a key ingredient.”

“Equity and access are still a major issue, so we need to ensure personalised support tools are both useful and available to everyone who needs them across Australia.”

Professor Gita Mishra

Associate Professor Clair Sullivan

For Associate Professor Clair Sullivan, it is all about patients and the people who care for them.

“In my role as a Consultant Endocrinologist I see patients with complex health needs. Their experiences and feedback have helped shape the work I do in my other roles, including leading UQ’s Queensland Digital Health Centre.”

“At QDHeC we are helping to create a learning healthcare system that routinely collects data and patient experiences to continuously monitor and improve outcomes. We want to leave the health system in better shape because our current healthcare model is simply not sustainable.”

“I have been proud to be part of group which has driven digital health transformation in our State and delivered better outcomes and seeing this work translated at scale. My main contribution has been assembling complex teams of people, uniting them to a common goal.”

“I aim to champion the interests of consumers, clinicians and researchers to really deliver a better health system.”

Over the last decade, those changes have really shown in the digital healthcare space.

“I have seen so many changes. The transition from scrawled illegible notes on paper, to sophisticated digital records providing real time support for clinical decision making. I have seen patient records shift from an aide memoire for doctors, to a complex amount of data centred around the consumer, such as the Australian Digital Health Agency app, My Health Record, which allows consumers to have immediate access to their clinical notes, imaging and pathology tests.”

“Artificial intelligence is now emerging as a way to help us manage and curate this information and support decision making.”

But despite the leaps digital healthcare has made, Associate Professor Sullivan believes we still have a fair way to go in empowering women to own their health journeys.

“The health of women and girls in many parts of the world is severely compromised – simply because of their gender.”

“Here in Australia, most people have access to excellent healthcare, but we know that there are many disadvantaged women and girls, including an unacceptably high number from First Nations communities, who do not have access to world class care.”

“As a society, we all need to be committed to changing this outcome by supporting families and communities to rise from generational trauma, poverty and disadvantage.”

Associate Professor Leigh Tooth

For Associate Professor Leigh Tooth, research has always been a passion.

“I have always loved research, from my first experience as an honours student. After working clinically as an occupational therapist for a few years I was keen to get back into the research space. So enrolled in a PhD, and never looked back.”

Professor Tooth is the Principal Research Fellow in the Australian Women and Girls Health Research Centre within the School of Public Health and co-lead for the Epidemiology of Women and Girls' Health Stream.

One of her proudest moments comes from being involved as Deputy Director of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health – Australia’s preeminent and longest running women’s longitudinal study, which explores the factors contributing to the health and wellbeing of more than 57,000 Australian women.

“Overseeing the data integrity of the ALSWH has been one of my key roles since I joined the study. I work with a fantastic team, and together we ensure the study follows the Five Safes Principles and maintains the highest standard for data access, data management and ethical conduct.”

In her work within the School of Public Health, Professor Tooth also looks at the socioeconomic determinants of health and health inequality, and states that although we have come a long way in the last decade, there is still significant room for improvement.

“A positive change has been in the recognition of the multicultural nature of contemporary Australia society, and that programs and resources are increasingly being produced in formats that are tailored to these women. One area we have not seen enough change in however is the economic parity between women and men in terms of income and superannuation.”

She firmly believes that health disparities can be improved through education.

“The more women who understand health, risk factors for ill health and factors associated with better health, the more empowered they will be. This means ensuring the information we provide is culturally appropriate as well as easy to understand.”

“Biologically, women are very different to men, yet much evidence that is used to underpin treatments for women have been based on data from men or pooled data that may not have been analysed by sex. This is changing, but not quickly enough.”

Associate Professor Leigh Tooth

Professor Marina Reeves

For Professor Marina Reeves, a deeply personal connection motivates her research.

When she was 24 years old, she experienced what felt like the world collapsing beneath her. She had just finished her PhD and commenced work at the Cancer Council Queensland when her mother was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. The confusion, despair and heartache that clouded that time in Professor Reeves’s life - from her mother’s diagnoses to her tragic passing - will be forever embedded in her work.

“After she passed away, I chose to focus my research on breast cancer and the role diet, physical activity and body composition can play in improving the health and wellbeing of women following a breast cancer diagnosis.”

As a University of Queensland academic for more than 15 years, Professor Reeves is today a dietitian and a breast cancer researcher at the School of Public Health, as well as the Deputy Associate Dean of Research (Research Development) within the Faculty of Medicine.

Professor Reeves has made it her mission to rebuild a better world for women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and welcomes the shift towards more conversation amongst women about women’s health.

“Particularly topics that may have typically been taboo or felt embarrassing to talk about such as menopause, gynaecological health, pelvic floor function etc. Normalising these changes and related health issues through more open conversation is important for arming women with information and knowing there is support available.”

“We are the experts of our bodies – we need to listen to our bodies when something doesn’t feel right. If in doubt, get it checked out.”

Professor Reeves also reflects on one of the proudest moments in her personal life - her ability to walk away from an unhealthy marriage, almost 10 years ago – and the challenges that face women in academia.

“Despite the many challenges, I’ve managed to juggle single parenting with my full-time academic work (hard work on both fronts). Succeeding in academia as a woman can be hard but succeeding in academia as a single parent can sometimes feel near impossible, and I am proud of achieving this success against the odds.”

Dr Natasha Reid

For Dr Natasha Reid, it’s about raising awareness.

Dr Reid’s vision is to better inform our society about prenatal alcohol exposure - specifically the neurodevelopmental condition of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

“Before coming back to university to do my PhD and clinical training I was working in child protection, and I kept coming across in children’s records that they had been exposed to alcohol during pregnancy or that they had suspected fetal alcohol syndrome, but no one could tell me what this meant for these children and how we could help them.”

“So that got me interested in trying to understand what we could do and how we could help improve the lives of children who had experienced prenatal alcohol exposure and also prevent this happening to other people in the future.”

Today, Dr Reid is a Senior Research Fellow and Clinical Psychologist at the Child Health Research Centre and an inspiring advocate for assessment and diagnostic services in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Her aim is to ensure that all children and families can have access to the interventions and support they need. She leads the charge in this area, calling for government reforms and for the stigma around FASD to be addressed.

“I am proud of the work that we do every day in our clinic helping to support children and young people with FASD and their families so that more people can get access to the supports they need to live happy, healthy and successful lives.”

“There has been a significant increase in awareness in Australia regarding prenatal alcohol exposure and FASD – including currently a national awareness raising campaign - Every Moment Matters.”

“Although we still have more work to do, we now have more assessment and diagnostic services for children who have experienced prenatal alcohol exposure including in our Neurodevelopmental Clinic at UQ”.

“I believe that all women have the right to accurate information and compassionate and effective services for all their wellbeing, substance use and reproductive needs.”

Dr Natasha Reid