A quartet of female Indigenous researchers are exemplifying excellence and leadership at SAHMRI while accelerating health and wellbeing improvements for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders across Australia.

Prof Odette Pearson and A/Prof Kim Morey co-lead SAHMRI’s Aboriginal Health Equity theme and each direct their own multilateral research programs. A/Prof Yvonne Clark and Ms Karen Glover co-lead the Aboriginal Communities and Families Health Research Alliance (ACRA) within the SAHMRI Women and Kids theme.

SAHMRI Executive Director Professor Maria Makrides says the institute is privileged to have such a wealth of world-class research talent.

“Odette, Kim, Yvonne and Karen are the embodiment of this year’s International Women’s Day theme ‘March forward: For all women and girls,’ Prof Makrides said.

“They are extraordinary people doing extraordinary things, and it’s not just me saying that. The demonstrable research success and nationally-renowned awards they all have achieved speak objectively to their significant contributions.”

Prof Pearson won the 2023 Pat Anderson Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Award and at the following year’s NHMRC Research Excellence Awards earned the Sandra Eades Investigator Grant honour for the top-ranked Indigenous researcher in the Emerging Leadership category of Investigator Grants.

At the prestigious Gladys Elphick Awards in 2023, A/Prof Morey received the prize named for Shirley Peisley, recognising a role model who inspires others to be the best they can be and continually strives for professional excellence, leading organisational change in the workplace. At the following year’s awards, Ms Glover was honoured with the Perpetual Lifetime Achievement Award, celebrating her dedication to improving the lives of others and her contribution to the Aboriginal community through demonstrated leadership, community spirit and her work.

A/Prof Yvonne Clark is also an award-winning researcher who is currently overseeing two $5m programs funded by the NHMRC and MRFF.Both theseprojects aim to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, wellbeing and support during pregnancy, birth, the early years and during adolescence.

“These four women have built multidisciplinary research teams whose work to Close the Gap spans a spectrum of issues that Indigenous Australians are facing including perinatal health, social and emotional wellbeing, the social determinants of health, chronic diseases, aged care and systems change,” Prof Makrides said.

“They are intelligent, innovative female leaders at SAHMRI, and I’m very proud to say they are not alone. We are blessed to have equally credentialled female role models across all our institute’s research programs.

“We don’t need International Women’s Day to remind us of the calibre of our female leadership but it’s a great opportunity to pause and reflect on the incredible impact they are having now and for future generations.”