In 1990, Professor Sandra Eades graduated as one of Australia’s first Indigenous doctors.
A proud Noongar woman, Prof Eades left her home in Mount Barker, Western Australia to study medicine at the University of Newcastle in 1985.
She was the first person in her family to attend university and complete her medical degree. After which, she started working as a GP, before beginning her career in health research at the Telethon Kids Institute.
Prof Eades became Australia’s first Aboriginal medical doctor to be awarded a PhD, where her research investigated the causal pathways and determinants of health among Aboriginal infants in the first year of life.
She’s been open, however, about the hurdles she had to face in achieving these feats. As an Aboriginal woman, Prof Eades has said that early on, she was told she’d have to be twice as good to have access to opportunities.
Nevertheless, Prof Eades continued to pave the way for Indigenous peoples in more ways than one. A true health trailblazer, she’s been honoured extensively throughout her career, with various accolades and awards.
She was named NSW Woman of the Year 2006 in recognition of her research contributions to Aboriginal communities and has received a ‘Deadly Award’ (National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards) for Outstanding Achievement in Health.
In March 2020, she commenced as Dean and Head of Curtin Medical School at Curtin University, and is understood to be Australia’s first appointment of an Indigenous Dean to a medical school.
In addition to this, she’s also a Professor at the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.
Having made important contributions to a wide range of government, research and academic and non-government committees and organisations, Prof Eades research continues to make a real difference to people’s lives, particularly young Indigenous people.
She developed the Next Generation– Aboriginal Youth Wellbeing Study, after receiving feedback that young Indigenous people were neglected when it comes to research. The longitudinal cohort assesses the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescents and youth aged 10-24 years, revealing high rates of pre-hypertension and hypertension in this population.
In a keynote address last year at the WONCA World Conference, she referenced this work, describing the study’s results as “an emerging wicked problem” that we need a better understanding of.
“High blood pressure is one of the seven leading factors that contribute to the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians,” she said.
One of her more recent research projects is looking into culturally appropriate models for improving mental health and wellbeing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Young People, called “Bringing Family, Community, Culture and Country to the Centre of Health Care”.
Another of her projects, the results of which were published in the Lancet Global Health Journal, examined low birth weight among Aboriginal infants. It found that the lifelong consequences of poor foetal growth that disproportionately impact Aboriginal people can be fixed within a generation if the right improvements are made towards maternal health.
Prof Eades has also investigated the relationship between Indigeneity, social adversity and externalising symptoms in young people. This study added to evidence of the importance of addressing increased social adversity among all young people, including those who are Indigenous.
And even outside of health, encompassing wellbeing and culture, Prof Eades has been outspoken about First Nations rights. Ahead of the Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023, she penned an article called The Voice to Parliament and Echoes of Mabo, detailing the significance of such a vote.
“As a young doctor, I was introduced to the National Aboriginal Health Strategy developed by Aboriginal health leaders,” Prof Eades writes.
“The strategy made the connection between land and health, and demonstrated that health is not just the absence of disease but is grounded in the spiritual cyclical life, death, life connection we as First Australians have to our lands.”
To mark NAIDOC Week 2024, Women’s Agenda has produced a special edition eMagazine in honour and celebration of incredible First Nations women trailblazing across different sectors in healthcare. Thanks to Charles Sturt University’s First Nations Pathways for its support bringing this eMagazine to life.