Meet your Federal Council – Dr Sarah Whitelaw

Actively participating in multiple AMA branches, including on the AMA Victoria board and as AMA Victoria Vice President, has been a huge benefit in deepening my understanding and experience of the AMA federation as a whole, and of the nuances of the relationships between the State and Territory AMAs and Federal AMA. 

I continue to elevate public hospital funding and the patient journey through the whole of the healthcare system as a key federal issue, in addition to the states and territories, and have been an active part of the AMA Clear the Logjam national campaign since its inception. 

My experience on AMA Federal Council began in 1996 as AMSA President and continued as Chair of AMACDT and as an AMA Victoria representative. 

I currently hold the role of AMA representative to the Medical Workforce Advisory Collaborative and have sat on almost all Commonwealth Government Workforce Advisory Bodies in various positions since 1996.  

I am passionate about medical workforce planning and strategy, and my ad eundem Fellowship of RCEM has enabled ongoing collaboration with UK colleagues on international medical workforce issues. I see the current environment as a pivotal moment for Australia’s future medical workforce and actively encourage all members to feed back their views on current workforce issues, including the rapidly changing structures of specialist training and accreditation and healthcare practitioner scope of practice. 

I also chair the AMA federal  Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (EIDC), and  the AMA representative to the Advancing Women in Healthcare Leadership National Partner Forum, and have been instrumental in securing the AMA’s ongoing lead partner role in the project, which is also focusing on ensuring the AMA itself ensures its own sustainability by reflecting the profession in its membership, leadership and representative structures. 

I am a current board member of the Victorian Doctors Health Program and a member of the ACEM Health System Reform Advisory Committee. 

At all stages of my medical career, I have found huge benefit in being an AMA member. From access to mentorship, influence on advocacy at local, state and federal levels and industrial representation, to an ability to directly address the issues that impacted my training, the wellbeing of myself and my colleagues and my ability to deliver quality healthcare to my patients and my community.  

I have searched intensely and explored other avenues for advocacy but have been an active member of the AMA throughout my career and continue to believe in the key central role of doctors in advocating for ongoing improvement of Australia’s healthcare system, and the AMA’s central, impactful role in facilitating this. Nowhere else does the profession come together as a whole across the primary care, community and acute systems, public and private, from students to retired doctors. Nowhere else do all the pieces of our healthcare system come together to form a comprehensive strategic approach to our current and future issues. I genuinely believe the longevity of my clinical career has been greatly enhanced as a result of the opportunity to address the system’s issues through AMA participation. 

I consider the AMA Federal Council an engine room for whole-of-profession collaborative policy development and advocacy, and that it is truly an honour to contribute on behalf of my craft group, and I look forward to continuing to contribute to the AMA wherever my experience can be most useful. 

I am also exceptionally grateful to my family and friends — the village that recognises the value of my time spent on the AMA Federal Council, and who all work so hard to facilitate it.