Dr Georgia Paxton

Throughout her career Georgia has championed a rights-based approach to healthcare by striving towards the principle that every person, no matter how they arrived in Australia, has an equal opportunity to achieve optimal health and wellbeing.

As the Head of The Royal Children's Hospital Immigrant Health Service, Georgia provides exceptional care to refugee children and their families, representing her patients with courage and conviction.

By addressing health inequity, Georgia has made an invaluable contribution to the sustainability of healthcare services for Victoria's culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Georgia's efforts have resulted in better screening, identification, treatment and management of illness prevention; improved cultural responsiveness; increased knowledge of the status of refugee children in Victoria; and improvements in data and reporting on vulnerable groups.

Georgia has also devoted much of her time to building the capacity of the Victorian health workforce to better respond to the complex needs of refugees and asylum seekers. She has significantly improved workforce capacity by supervising 16 registrar positions. Remarkably, many of these doctors still work in migrant health.

In 2010, Georgia was awarded the Windermere Health Services Fellowship to develop an electronic health record for refugee health care in Victoria. Subsequently, Georgia's great work was also recognised when the team received an Institute of Public Administration Award in 2015.

Alongside her clinical endeavours, Georgia's commitment to social justice and upholding the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers is no less compelling. She has been instrumental in raising the profile of the diverse issues faced by refugee and asylum seeker children living in the Victorian community and those who are in held detention.

Last year, in recognition of her expertise, demonstrated commitment to immigration and humanitarian issues and community representation, Georgia was appointed to the national Minister's Council on Asylum Seekers and Detention.