Kerryn Phelps

Kerryn Lyndel Phelps (born 14 December 1957) is an Australian medical practitioner, public health and civil rights advocate, medical educator and former politician.

She was the first woman and first openly LGBT person to be elected president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA).

Phelps was born at Manly Hospital on 14 December 1957, and grew up in the Pittwater region of Sydney.

Phelps graduated from the University of Sydney in 1981 and completed postgraduate training at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, and at the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

She started working in health communications in the mainstream media in 1985, bringing messages about healthy lifestyle to the attention of the general public.

Her television credits include EveryBody, Good Morning Australia, the Today Show, a documentary on the Kokoda Track campaign and Last Chance Surgery.

She has been the subject of stories on 60 Minutes, Australian Story and This Is Your Life.

Phelps has presented a variety of health and fitness programs on radio and has been a regular newspaper and magazine columnist.

She has been the health writer for The Australian Women's Weekly since 1991.

In 1992, she was a regular on the sex education program Sex on the Nine Network.

Her father, George, was a refrigeration mechanic, and her mother, Shirley Phelps OAM, was a Councillor for Pittwater Council (1995–2002) and Deputy Mayor (1996–1997).

In 1999, Phelps was elected president of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA).

The following year she was elected federal president of the AMA, where she served the maximum term of three years.

Some of her more significant successes involved working with Australian State and Federal Governments on resolving an emerging medical indemnity crisis.

The unresolved medical insurance issue threatened obstetrics and neurosurgery in particular, and was exacerbated by escalating medical malpractice claims.

She was also instrumental in establishing an advisory committee on Indigenous health in Australia, and promoting debate on the importance of the public health system in response to the bioterrorism threat.

Phelps' major areas of interest included integrative medicine, public health, and human rights issues.

As AMA President, she convened an expert advisory committee and pioneered the AMA's first position statement on complementary medicine.

She was also the first AMA President to publicly state the effects of climate change on public health, and raised awareness of issues such as Aboriginal health problems, and the medical workforce shortage.

Phelps's time as AMA president was marked by a public clash with the federal Minister for Health, Michael Wooldridge.

He publicly claimed that she had no specialist medical qualifications.

In rebuttal, Phelps contended that general practice is itself a medical specialty.

After the Prime Minister, John Howard intervened to broker a truce, the minister still refused to apologise for his remarks.

In an interview on PM, the minister eventually issued a public apology.

While President of AMA Phelps was also chairperson of pink media and property company Satellite Group.

She resigned as chairperson of the troubled company in August 2000.

In 2001, she was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to health and medicine.

Between 2009 and 2012, Phelps was President of the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association.

She is founder and principal clinician at Sydney Integrative Medicine and Cooper Street Clinic in Sydney and Conjoint Professor in the National Institute of Complementary Medicine at the Western Sydney University.

She is a regular speaker to health professionals and the general public on health and well-being, as well as leadership and strategy for professional organisations.

In 2011, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to medicine, particularly through leadership roles with the AMA, education and community health, and as a general practitioner.

She is Conjoint Professor in the National Institute of Complementary Medicine at the Western Sydney University.

Shirley Phelps was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2013 and George Phelps was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2002.

Phelps is also a keen sportswoman, and in 2014, was appointed to the board of Hockey Australia.

She is also an ambassador for Barnardos Australia.

Phelps was elected to the Council of the City of Sydney on 10 September 2016 as a member of the Clover Moore Independents Team, and was then appointed as Deputy Lord Mayor of the council.

She resigned as Deputy on 26 June 2017 and is now an independent politician.

On 16 September 2018, Phelps announced she would run as an independent candidate in the 2018 Wentworth by-election, occasioned by the resignation from Parliament of Malcolm Turnbull following his removal as Prime Minister.

She was elected with a majority of 1,851 votes (1.2 points in two-party-preferred terms), constituting a 19-point swing in what had been a safe Liberal seat, and was the first independent candidate to win the federal seat of Wentworth.

However, on 20 May 2019, she was defeated in the 2019 federal election by the Liberal candidate Dave Sharma.