Our 2025 Inspirational Women with Michelle Topple, Divisional Manager Access and Critical Care and MC for the event; Cameron Goodyear, Chief Executive Officer (Interim); and Brit Gordon, Chief Allied Health Officer and IWD Executive Sponsor.

6 March 2025

Today we celebrated International Women's Day at Austin Health, recognising our 2025 Inspirational Women award recipients and nominees with a hybrid event.

This is the eighth year that Austin Health has hosted an event to recognise and celebrate the remarkable women, both staff and volunteers, across the organisation through the International Women’s Day celebrations. This year we received 83 nominations setting a new record!

Congratulations to all our 50 nominees and our 6 award recipients of this year’s International Women’s Day award. Thank you for your remarkable contribution to Austin Health and for the difference you make to our patients and the community.

Michelle Topple, Divisional Manager Access and Critical Care and an award recipient in 2021, hosted this year’s event and our guest speaker was the fabulous Rana Hussain.

Congratulations to our six 2025 Inspirational Women award recipients. Below we share a few words from the nominations received for each award recipient.

Casey Paton

Emergency Radiology Supervisor Radiographer

Casey is one of my biggest role models in not only the field of Radiography, but as a leader, woman and just incredible human being. Providing medical imaging services in the Emergency Department is often a fast-paced, dynamic and challenging clinical setting as we work with patients at their sickest and most vulnerable. Radiographers from all levels of experience- from students, recent graduates finding their footing, to more experienced and senior staff, look up to Casey as the epitome of kindness and compassion within the busy setting. I often watch as she goes above and beyond to explain each step for patients who might be fearful, in pain, or confused, making even the most anxious patients feel safe.

Her positive and selfless attitude is usually adopted by everyone around her on shift as she takes every challenge in her stride yet still connects deeply with every team member to make them feel seen. I honestly just think she’s one of the best people I’ve ever met and feel I’ve changed my approach and outlook on many things, both professional and personal, simply by being in her presence and seeing her positivity. As a leader and supervisor who often acts within managerial capacities, she’s also an incredible woman who has inspired many radiographers (myself included!) to step up, speak up and act with confidence. I think this award is a perfect way to thank her for everything she does, and remind her how much of a boss woman she really is to so many of us!

As I mentioned, the world of Medical Imaging is often fast-paced and challenging, and there was an arising trend where many new staff had knowledge gaps or lacked the time to ‘slow down’. Casey was able to identify this by creating a safe environment for staff to feel confident to speak up about these gaps and weaknesses, and she acted on it. She created a fortnightly program called ‘Beginner’s Beam’ (name based on an x-ray beam, and the concept of going back to basics), where new graduates, students and available staff meet on a Monday afternoon and present to one another about new topics, learnings and challenges. This has really changed the culture of our team, with many conversations starting with ‘what are you going to present at the Beginner’s Beam?’, and inspiring staff to use their clinical challenges as platforms to discuss in a group setting. Casey leads each of these sessions with her warm and welcoming presence, sharing the learnings with the broader team and continually inspiring others to put their hand up and get involved. This initiative has also given staff a chance to touch base with each other, improving collaborations, honesty and teamwork. Thanks Casey for such an awesome idea!

Casey was nominated by Dayna O'Shannessy.

Danella Webb

Manager, Ngarra Jarra Aboriginal Health Unit

While Danella is not of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island origin, she is a First Nations Māori woman who is a champion for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. She fiercely advocates for better health outcomes, services, systems and cultural safety for our people while they journey through Austin Health. The incredible success that she has had while she has been in the role is amazing. We always need to celebrate those people around us that stand up and challenge whenever there are inequities in this world, and Danella does this daily. She embodies what we want all human beings to be. Kind, compassionate and staunch.

Personally, I am inspired by Danella every day. This woman has been at Austin Health for 22 years and I am constantly learning from her. She is generous in sharing her knowledge and feelings. I am forever grateful for her advocacy and being able to watch how she navigates the many different personalities that have not had the opportunity in their personal or professional lives to have engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and see how she delivers the necessary education to these staff and units. It is a blessing to bear witness to the tireless work that she does.

Danella creates a culturally safe and welcoming space for all of the relationships that she forms and maintains in her everyday interactions. This is not just her job. She lives this ethos. It is who she is and that needs to be recognised.

Danella was nominated by Wendy Brooke.

Fabiola Case

Consumer Lived and Living Experience Discipline Lead, Mental Health

Fabiola is an exceptional leader who brings authenticity, passion, and a deep commitment to embedding the consumer perspective in mental health care. As the Consumer Discipline Lead for the Lived and Living Experience Workforce at Austin Mental Health Division, she ensures that real experiences shape the way we approach care and training. Her work in integrating consumer perspectives into Safewards and Suicide Prevention training has made a profound impact, creating more empathetic and effective support systems. What sets Fabiola apart is her ability to inspire those around her—not just through her expertise, but through her presence. She uplifts colleagues with her energy, fosters genuine connections, and leads with a rare combination of strength and compassion. Her contributions deserve to be celebrated because she is transforming the workplace and the broader community in ways that truly matter.

Fabiola’s impact became especially clear to me during a Safewards training session. Instead of simply delivering information, she created an open space where staff could genuinely connect with the consumer perspective. She shared real experiences in a way that challenged assumptions, deepened understanding, and ultimately changed how many of us approached mental health care. One colleague later shared that the session reshaped how they engaged with patients—moving from a clinical approach to a more person-centered one. Beyond training, Fabiola also inspires through her everyday interactions. She has a natural ability to lift spirits and push people beyond their comfort zones. She once encouraged me to take on a challenge I never would have considered, simply by believing in me when I doubted myself. Her influence extends beyond professional spaces; she fosters a culture of growth, empathy, and support, making a lasting difference in both the workplace and the wider community.

Fabiola was nominated by Mikayla Stukel, Olga Miritis, Carmen Morris, Kayleigh Kerr and Harsh Bansal.

Nadia Mouchaileh

Senior Aged Care Pharmacist

She is such a great leader of her aged care team that performs so well under adversity of staff shortages, financial constraints, etc. She treats every member of the dept with respect; she has great ideas on how things should be done; she leads by example and she fights passionately for resources for all members of her team.

Because she is so approachable as a mentor, many staff members confide in her. She invests a lot of her time in trying to resolve issues in line with the hospital's values & culture pillar principles.

1. We care - she does care about everything & has attention to detail in everything she does. 2. We bring our best - she unequivocally contributes all her energy, emotions, etc into problem solving for her team. She is so passionate about the well being of her staff. (She makes sure cake & flowers are organised for everyone's birthday!). 3. Together we achieve - I've had feedback from all the staff who've been rostered elsewhere that they do NOT want to leave the Repat Pharmacy because of such a strong culture here. Her team members all WANT to work for her! 4. We shape the future - the future of ward pharmacists at the Repat is BRIGHT as every new pharmacist in the dept wants to be rostered a position at the Repat campus because of her!

Nadia was nominated by Rasma Alessio, Steve Yeoh, Sonia Hawkins, Isabella Solano and Lynn Maggs.

Rachel Collins

Divisional Manager, Specialty Services, Mental Health

Rachel has been my direct manager since 2021. She has been an exceptional leader for our service and a grounding presence for our team. She is present at many meetings and is hands-on in her approach. I get the sense she is across everything that is happening here, even down to the individual details of my caseload and clients, which feels so stabilising to know that our manager really 'gets' where things are at for each team member here. My previous experience of managers is that they have felt quite disconnected from the on-the-ground workings of the clinical work we do, and I do not remember them being a strong felt presence, whereas Rachel is very different in a good way. She is also very supportive in accommodating the needs of team members here, thus creating a lovely culture where everyone feels valued and able to do their best work. I appreciate her leadership so much!

Rachel has helped bring some structure to PTRS. She has led efforts to improve our processes which has enhanced the quality of the clinical work we do, e.g. our PTSD group programs. We have had some staff days where we come together to brainstorm ideas and solutions to improve how we work which was a great team experience. She really brings a personal sense of being committed to improving our service and the work we do.

Our actions show we care - Rachel absolutely brings passion and care to her work and to our service. Together we achieve - she has brought us together as a team. We bring our best - she helps each staff member feel valued, appreciated and supported which allows people to do their best clinical work. We shape the future - Rachel's passion for improving our service gives me hope that things will continue to improve into the future here. Thank you, Rachel!

Rachel was nominated by Renee Armstrong, Maryam Ejareh Dar, Kate Ritson, Chiranth Bhagvan, Sonia Terhaag, Roua Jabir, Nigel Mitton, Alison Cutter, Audine McGovern-McCabe, Vivienne Champness, Reshmy Radhamony, Amy Coelen, Margaret Blanch, Nikki Glavas, Alex Foster, Kel Edwards, Melissa Giogha and Christina Sim.

Trudi Tindal

Enrolled Nurse, Acquired Brain Injury Unit

In the face of a challenging patient cohort, Trudi remains an exemplar of nursing care with her consistent positive attitude and appetite to make a difference in the patient's rehabilitation journey.

Despite the challenges confronted on the ABI unit, Trudi remains a positive influence on her colleagues. She is always willing to assist other staff and is committed to providing person-centred care to her patients at all times. Even though the unit has many patients which pose behaviour management challenges, Trudi always treats her patients with dignity and respect. A trait that is clearly noticeable and envied.

We bring our best. There is not a day that Trudi doesn't make a positive contribution to her team & patients on the ABI unit at Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre. Always putting patient needs first, sometimes at the jeopardy of her own needs. Trudi consistently role models professional nursing care and is an asset to Austin Health.

Trudi was nominated by Lee MacDonald and Jane Conidaris.