I am a Sport and Exercise Medicine Physician working in clinical Sport and Exercise Medicine at The Sports Clinic at Sydney University.
My personal sports journey, which has always been amateur, started with Athletics, running for the Sydney Uni Athletics Club, moving on to playing Rugby for a couple of years in my early 30s and now involves just keeping fit.
My involvement with Sydney University for the past 35 years, as a student athlete and sports club administrator and in looking after athletes at the university for the past 25 years as a Sports physician lead to me being awarded Gold awards from both the Athletics Club and the Rugby Club and then an Honorary Fellowship to Sydney Uni in 2022. Throughout my time at Sydney Uni from student years onwards, I have worked for the recognition of our female athletes and the historic combining of our men’s and women’s clubs and have seen the incredible benefit that has come to both male and female athletes when they finally merged.
Alongside clinic work and sports coverage, I have also been involved in research in Ankle syndesmosis sprains, concussion and recently in helping develop the new AIS Pre pregnancy and Pregnancy Guidelines for Athletes.
In Sport I have looked after a wide variety of men’s and women’s sporting teams over the years but am currently the CMO for the NSW Women’s Cricket Program and the NSW Waratahs Women’s Rugby 15s and 7s Programs. By helping our female athletes achieve their full potential on the sporting field I am doing my part in helping raise the profile of women’s sport in Australia.
I thoroughly enjoy being a sport and exercise medicine physician, both for the enjoyment I get from working with my patients to get them back to full health but also for the lifestyle I have been able to live managing to work part time whilst raising my 4 children and being active in their lives.
I was taught up to believe that women can be anything they want to be and that they are as capable as anyone else to do any job. Participating in sport and later working in Sport and Exercise Medicine exposed me to the sporting world where, despite definite improvement particularly in the last 5 years, sexism does still exist for players and staff.
We are starting to raise the recognition and renumeration of our female athletes. It is time to also work on improving recognition and appreciation for the skills and abilities of the other women in sport – the coaches, the administrators and the medical staff. That is why I am very pleased to be a member of the Women in SEM Advisory Group.
My areas of interest:
Female athletes
Paediatric sports medicine
Biomechanical injuries
Acute Management of sports injuries
Concussion in Female athletes.
The use of Shockwave.
For more information and or contact details please see: www.thesportsclinic.com.au