Tracey O’Brien: Incredibly humbling to be recognised with such a prestigious national award

Tracey O’Brien shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Yesterday, I had the honor of attending my investiture ceremony, surrounded by family to receive my Order of Australia Medal, announced in the King’s Birthday Awards. It’s incredibly humbling to be recognised with such a prestigious national award for what I’ve always considered a privilege — a career where I learn something new every day, get to work alongside extraordinary healthcare professionals, researchers, patients and advocates.

I am deeply grateful to the many mentors and colleagues who have shared their wisdom, knowledge, and encouragement throughout my journey. To my friends and family, whose unwavering support has been essential — thank you. I’m also a firm believer in the idea that the more you learn, the more you realize how much there is still to learn. In many ways, I feel like I’m just getting started, and there has never been a more exciting and hopeful time working in cancer.

Promoting the power of coordination, collaboration, and partnerships across clinicians, researchers, industry, philanthropy, and policy makers ; harnessing the rapid innovation in diagnostics, therapeutics, AI and data so all people, no matter who they are, or where they live benefit, and a stronger focus on compassionate, person-centered care, driven by meaningful inclusion of consumers and lived experience so we address what really matters most to people, are just some of the things that have my current attention and I truly believe will pave the way to better health and cancer outcomes for our loved ones and communities.”

Source: Tracey O’Brien/LinkedIn

Dr. Tracey O’Brien is the NSW Chief Cancer Officer and CEO of the Cancer Institute NSW, Australia. Before her current role, Tracey was Director of the Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children’s Hospital, and Director of the Transplant & Cellular Therapy Program. Tracey has held numerous high-profile national and international leadership positions, including Advisory Chair, Cancer Australia; V/Chair (Africa, Asia and Australasia) International Centre for Bone Marrow Transplant Research and V/President of the Australian and New Zealand Children’s Oncology Group.

In recognition of her exceptional contributions, Tracey was profiled in 2023 as one of the world’s foremost women in paediatric cancer by the International Society of Paediatric Oncology. In 2019 Tracey was named in the Australian Financial Review’s prestigious Top 10 Women of Influence, winning the Innovation category. In addition to her medical expertise, Tracey has a Master of Law (Health) and executive MBA and serves as a conjoint Professor in Clinical Medicine (UNSW) and Honorary Professor in Science and Engineering (Macquarie University). Dr. O’Brien remains committed to mentoring the next generation of clinician leaders and maintains an active clinical practice in cancer survivorship at Sydney Children’s Hospital.