Lena Elizabeth McEwan was the first woman to specialise in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in Australia. She had a distinguished career, not only by succeeding in the male-dominated world of surgery but also through her contributions to her specialty, as an educator and advocate for women in surgery. McEwan was born in 1927 in Adelaide, Australia and graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 1949. McEwan became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 1958 before relocating to Melbourne a year later. Here she worked with leading Plastic Surgeon Sir Benjamin Rank and was appointed his associate and second assistant at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. She continued working at Peter MacCallum Cancer Hospital (PMCH) where she was head of the Skin Unit until her retirement in 1992. McEwan contributed to many aspects of medicine during her career by her involvement in several notable research projects. She showed courage and passion by helping to establish an interdisciplinary team for gender reassignment. She was generous with her time and funds, providing tutelage to undergraduate medical students in University College, training surgeons through PMCH and donating to scholarships in both Melbourne and Adelaide Universities. She was an advocate for women in medicine and become the president of the Victorian Medical Women's Society in 1967. Lena McEwan should continue to be renowned, not just as the first female Plastic Surgeon in Australia, but for her esteemed career and contributions to in medicine in Australia.