The Inaugural National Women in Digital Health Leadership and Mentoring program has been launched!
It’s the first of its kind in Australia and has been adapted from the program developed in USA, and modified to suit our context.
We have 27 fabulous women who have taken the opportunity to venture into a leadership and mentoring program specific to digital health over the next 6 months. We will meet in Melbourne, Brisbane and conduct intensive leadership retreats, along with the monthly mentoring meetups which culminates in a celebration in Sydney, August 31st.
I am so thrilled and proud to be one of the leaders/mentors of the program and am in auspicious company with other women leaders who aspire to promote gender equity in the digital health space.
I see ourselves and the participants as being pioneers in a burgeoning industry and one that is rapidly growing and firmly believe that if women are not engaged in driving this industry, we will become the passive recipients of a system that we are not satisfied with.
We all interact with technology in our working lives, daily. We all interact with systems and offer advice on how to improve these throughout our professional lives. If we add these inputs to the power of quantum digital technology, we have the potential to address big issues, effectively and equitably. As a career direction you can add this to the mix. Of our 27 participants there are few doctors, and I am keen to see at least one AFMW representative in next year’s round.
Meet The Participants
Visit: https://digitalhealth.org.au/womenindigitalhealth/meet-the-participants/
Magdalena Simonis
President AFMW
Chair, Medical Women in Technology and Health (MedWiTH)
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.
