Welcome message from the Associate Dean Diversity and Inclusion
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences website for Diversity and Inclusion. This website was established to celebrate our diversity, share resources, and provide an opportunity for staff involvement in our diversity and inclusion initiatives across the Faculty.
As your Associate Dean Diversity and Inclusion, I am passionate and committed to equity and will use my role to advocate for people, their purpose, and for medicine and science.
We all have the right to a diverse and discrimination free workplace, where gender, sexuality and sexual orientation, disability, health issues, ethnicity and race, and an individual’s background should not be a barrier to reaching their full potential. My resolute goal is to continue to develop and bring new ideas to lead key initiatives that will enhance our Faculties progression towards Diversity and Inclusion.
Our Faculty is ranked among the top in the world for its impact, innovation, education, prosperity and growth. I believe we are ready to also be known for celebrating our diverse and outstanding people.
Associate Professor Natalie Hannan
Associate Dean Diversity and Inclusion
Graduation address by Associate Professor Natalie Hannan
Associate Professor Natalie Hannan, Associate Dean, Diversity and Inclusion and Head, Therapeutics Discovery and Vascular Function Group, addresses students graduating from the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.
Meet Dr Asiel Adan Sanchez
Dr Asiel Adan Sanchez (they/them) is a GP with an approach to diversity that is very much grounded in a human-rights framework. They have a quiet determination to change attitudes.
Celebrating our people and diversity
The Faculty is the sum of its talented staff and students. Here are some of their stories.
Dr Asiel Adan Sanchez
Dr Asiel Adan Sanchez (they/them) is a GP with an approach to diversity that is very much grounded in a human-rights framework. They have a quiet determination to change attitudes.
What is SWiM?
The Supporting Women in MDHS (SWiM) program aims to promote gender equity and support academic promotion of women in our Faculty
SWiM aims to inspire and encourage women to seek out and step up to leadership roles in their academic careers; as well as strategically prepare them for academic promotion.
Why does gender disparity matter?
Our Faculty cannot reach its full potential unless it can benefit from the talents of all our academic staff. Female academics are forced out of careers in STEMM by structural barriers and dysfunctional systems. The loss of such expertise is a significant waste of knowledge, talent and investment. This is an important issue for the entire Faculty to take on. Achieving gender equity will result in better balance, leading to a better Faculty for all.
What are we doing?
SWiM will provide targeted support for women applying for academic promotion under three pillars:
- Inspiring stories: a seminar series featuring women leaders and change makers
- Peer networks: for information sharing and advice on career progression
- Tailored mentoring: supporting women in preparing for academic promotion.
The SWiM program is aligned to:
- University and MDHS Faculty Gender Targets for Level D and E
- Beyond 2018 MDHS Strategic plan, pillars 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, and 3.2
- The University of Melbourne Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) Athena SWAN Bronze Award Action Plan
- Our participation in the Joint Sector Position Statement: ‘Preserving Gender Equity as a Higher Education Priority During and After COVID-19.’
- Advancing Melbourne, 2030
- Australian Academy of Science's Women in STEM Decadal Plan.
Inspiring stories: webinar series
In this monthly discussion series Associate Professor Natalie Hannan, Associate Dean Diversity and Inclusion, invites leading women in STEMM and other sectors to join her for a conversation about their careers, to share their advice and experience.
Natalie shares, "I hope that by creating this ongoing series for all MDHS colleagues we open up conversations about women in the workplace and feel inspired for our futures, better connected and confident to achieve our best."
MDHS staff interested in the inaugural webinar with Professor Julie Bines can learn more here about the Tuesday 20 October session. Susan will talk to Natalie about the importance of good mentorship.
A/Prof Susan Hurley: a career in STEMM, culminating in a novel
Tuesday 22 September 2020Associate Professor Susan Hurley is a writer and medical researcher with expertise in health economics, pharmacoepidemiology and public health policy. She is the author of the novel Eight Lives (Affirm Press, 2019), which has its origins in a catastrophic first-in-human trial of a monoclonal antibody. Susan has published more than fifty papers in high profile journals like the Lancet and her projects have influenced health policy, particularly in the areas of mammographic screening, HIV/AIDS, pharmacoepidemiology, immunisation and tobacco control.
Prof Julie Bines: the importance of good mentorship for women academics
Tuesday 20 October 2020Professor Julie Bines is a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne and a Paediatric Gastroenterologist and Head of Clinical Nutrition at the Royal Children’s Hospital.She leads the Enteric Disease Group at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute working to develop an affordable novel rotavirus vaccine, RV3-BB vaccine, aimed at preventing rotavirus disease from birth in infants worldwide. She is Director of the WHO Collaborative Centre for Child Health and has served as a consultant for WHO.