Professor Amanda Dawson is a clinical academic and Clinical Dean of the University of Newcastle’s Central Coast Clinical School, and the inaugural recipient of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and NSW Health’s Women in Surgery Leadership Medal. Her focus is to ensure equity by leading an inclusive and collaborative surgery education and research network.   As Australian National Lead for the £6 million cholecystectomy trial GECKO for the Global Surgery Unit she co-ordinated the participation of 73 sites across all states and territories, including metropolitan, regional and remote hospitals. Australia was a top patient recruiter across the 110 participating countries