BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRO-AUSTRALIAN PROFESSOR OF MEDCIN - DR HELEN MILROY THE FIRST BLACK AUSTRALIAN TO QUALIFY AS A DOCTOR : GOES INTO " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

Helen Milroy is a descendant of the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia but was born and educated in Perth. She studied medicine at the University of Western Australia, worked as a General Practitioner and Consultant in Childhood Sexual Abuse at Princess Margaret Hospital for children for several years before completing specialist training in Child and Adolescent psychiatry.
At present Helen works as a Consultant Psychiatrist with the Department of Health’s Statewide Aboriginal Mental Health Service, situated at Graylands Hospital, Perth; and is Winthrop Professor and Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health at the University of Western Australia.
Helen has been on State, National and College policy committees, Reference and Advisory groups. Helen is a Past President of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA), current member of the National Advisory Council on Mental Health, and the NHMRC Australian Human Ethics Committee, and is a board member of Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health initiative, the NHMRC Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Advisory Committee, and served as a member of the Western Australian Indigenous Implementation Board.

AIDA congratulates former President Professor Helen

Milroy in her new role as

Commissioner of the

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Ch

ild

Sexual Abuse

The Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association Pres

ident, Dr Tammy Kimpton applauded the

Governor General's appointment of longstanding Abor

iginal medical leader Professor Helen Milroy

to the role of Commissioner.

Dr Kimpton said "Professor Milroy, a Palkyu woman w

ith family from the Pilbara, is Australia's first

Aboriginal doctor, first Aboriginal psychiatrist, a

nd only Aboriginal child and adolescent

psychiatrist.

As a longstanding national advocate on Indigenous m

ental health and social and emotional

wellbeing, Professor Milroy has the capacity to com

bine culture and clinical practice to bridge

western approaches to health with Indigenous healin

g.

Her work in this area has gained international reco

gnition and she is a sought-after clinician and

thinker.

For us, Professor Milroy is an obvious choice as on

e of the six-

members of the Royal Commission

into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse”

.

Further, Dr Kimpton emphasised “Professor Milroy ha

s extensive clinical experience in working

with children and adolescents who have suffered chi

ld abuse. She will add critical understandings

to shape The Royal Commission’s deliberations and r

ecommendations to government. Like the

Prime Minister, The Australian Indigenous Doctors’

Association believes that the time to act is

now.”

Professor Milroy has previously stated “We are noth

ing if not for those who have been before and

the children of the future will look back and refle

ct on us today”.

The Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association is t

he peak organisation representing Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander doctors and medical stud

ents. Many of the approximately 175 Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander medical practitioners ar

e working with these issues on a daily basis