Inspirational Women in Surgery: Professor Wendy Brown, Australia

Across an academic landscape dominated by male surgeons in the early 2000s, Wendy Brown represented a beacon of hope for aspiring female academic surgeons. She spoke at national and international meetings with poise and authority, and she held positions of leadership in both hospital and university environments. Perhaps more importantly, Wendy was (and is) an empathetic and approachable colleague who quickly became an important role model.

Professor Brown was born in Melbourne, Australia, but lived a largely nomadic childhood with time spent in Brisbane, Sydney, New Zealand, and Singapore. She had no exposure to medicine as a child but, at the age of 13, heard a missionary couple speak about their work in Africa. This sowed the seed of medicine and, after her final year in a Victorian boarding school, Professor Brown was accepted to medical school...