Welcome back friends and members of AFMW. I hope you have had a restful time off or if not, that you have planned some time off. As we return to our office, research departments and surgeries, the problems we try to address can direct us to a negative place so remember to take time every day to just breathe deeply, be in the moment and practise gratitude for living in this wonderful country.
There is a lot of positive change in the air and much of this has been brought about by our individual and group efforts so even if you take ‘time out’, remember that there is a team out there doing the ‘time in’, a bit like the baton being passed on for a period.
Our year ahead is looking very exciting so watch our ebulletin for updates on our AFMW Events calendar. Starting with our first AFMW Council Meeting for the year on the 7th February, followed by our first Circle of Kindness session on the 22nd February 8-m AEDT, followed by our UN CSW 67th parallel event in later March.
Watch this space as we approach International Women’s Day on the 8th March, where the UN Women Australia’s International Women’s Day theme for 2023 is ‘Cracking the Code: Innovation for a gender equal future’. This ties in so well with the work we have been doing with AFMW Medical Women in Technology and Health (MedWiTH), where we encourage women doctors to become more involved in digital technologies so as to address gender inequity ranging from programming biases to the presence of women in the health technology industry.
I wish you all a healthy happy prosperous year and share a photos from my favourite locations which I flick through during my working day, to remind myself of the beauty that exists.
Associate Professor Magdalena Simonis AM is the Immediate Past President of the AFMW (2020-2023), former President of VMWS (2013 & 2017-2020) and current AFMW National Coordinator (2024-2026). She is a full time clinician who also holds positions on several not for profit organisations, driven by her passion for bridging gaps across the health sector. She is a leading women’s health expert, keynote speaker, climate change and gender equity advocate and government advisor. Magda is member of The Australian Health Team contributing monthly articles.
Magdalena was awarded a lifetime membership of the RACGP for her contributions which include past chair of Women in General Practice, longstanding contribution to the RACGP Expert Committee Quality Care, the RACGP eHealth Expert Committee. She is regularly invited to comment on primary care research though mainstream and medical media and contributes articles on various health issues through newsGP and other publications.
Magdalena has represented the RACGP at senate enquiries and has worked on several National Health Framework reviews. She is author of the RACGP Guide on Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery and co-reviewer of the RACGP Red Book Women’s Health Chapter, and reviewer of the RACGP White book
Both an RACGP examiner and University examiner, she undertakes general practice research and is a GP Educator with the Safer Families Centre of Research Excellence, which develops education tools to assist the primary care sector identify, respond to and manage family violence . Roles outside of RACGP include the Strategy and Policy Committee for Breast Cancer Network Australia, Board Director of the Melbourne University Teaching Health Clinics and the elected GP representative to the AMA Federal Council. In 2022. she was award the AMA (Vic) Patrick Pritzwald-Steggman Award 2022, which celebrates a doctor who has made an exceptional contribution to the wellbeing of their colleagues and the community and was listed as Women’s Agenda 2022 finalist for Emerging Leader in Health.
Magdalena has presented at the United Nations as part of the Australian Assembly and was appointed the Australian representative to the World Health Organisation, World Assembly on COVID 19, by the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) in 2021. In 2023, A/Professor Simonis was included on the King’s COVID-19 Champion’s list and was also awarded a Member (AM) in the General Division for significant service to medicine through a range of roles and to women’s health.
