Welcome to this President’s Chat with Dr Helena Franco, a current Orthopaedic Surgery PHO in Queensland.
A chat recap
A previous QMWS committee members and guest speaker, Helena has won a NCWQ bursary and several scholarships to help complete a Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery at Harvard Medical School. And if that is not enough, she has also been named on the Forbes 30 under 30 for Healthcare list.
Helena is still the lovely, humble and approachable person we came to know as our QMWS Sponsorship Officer and I hope you will enjoy our chat as much as I have.
Dr Ira van der Steenstraten, Vice – President and Immediate Past-President QMWS
Biography
Dr Helena Franco is an Orthopaedic Surgery unaccredited (pre-SET) registrar in Queensland.
She completed a Bachelor of Medical Studies/Doctor of Medicine (MD) from Bond University, and received the 2018 Bond University Young Alumni of the Year award in recognition of her academic success. She subsequently completed a Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery at Harvard Medical School as an R.G Menzies Scholar of Australia and Sir Keith Murdoch Scholar (American Australian Association). Her thesis was on sociodemographic factors influencing access and post-operative outcomes for children with acetabular dysplasia through Boston Children’s Hospital. She won the 2023 Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge (and was the first Australian to ever win this award!), was a Flare Capital Scholar and received recognition on Forbes 30 under 30 for Healthcare.
She served as the Queensland Medical Women’s Society Sponsorship Officer between 2019 and 2020, as well as the Deputy Chair of the AMA Queensland Council of Doctors in Training and President of the International Association of Student Surgical Societies. She received the 2021 Office for Women (Leadership) Bursary through the National Council of Women of Queensland. Through the National Council of Women Australia, she attended the 2023 United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York.
