Croakey Health Media has issued the following media statement.
Directors and members of Croakey Health Media have congratulated the organisation’s Chair, Dr Janine Mohamed, for receiving an honorary doctorate from Edith Cowan University, recognising her longstanding contributions to the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The award was presented to Dr Mohamed, CEO of the Lowitja Institute, at Edith Cowan University in Perth on 2 February, 2020.
The citation from Edith Cowan University states:
Janine Mohamed is a proud Narrunga Kaurna woman from Point Pearce in South Australia who has dedicated her exemplary career to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector through roles in nursing, management, policy and research or over two decades.”
The citation also notes Dr Mohamed’s work in educating non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander leaders in cultural safety and respect, whilst inspiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people to join the health workforce.
Dr Melissa Sweet, managing editor of Croakey, said Dr Mohamed’s work in cultural safety was also important for sectors beyond health, providing leadership for the fields of journalism and the media, as exemplified by her role with Croakey Health Media.
“We pay our respect to Dr Mohamed’s courage and tenacity in standing up against racism in the health sector and more widely, and her contributions towards significant changes in national policy around cultural safety in healthcare.”
Croakey contributing editor and Croakey Health Media Board member Dr Megan Williams, who is Associate Professor, Research Lead and Assistant Director of the National Centre for Cultural Competence at the University of Sydney, added:
“We also admire and benefit from Janine’s leadership and attention to detail in governance, and the management of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations. She maintains a high standard, and supports others in the process.”
Dr Mohamed began her career as a registered nurse with the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide and a research assistant at the Australian Indigenous Research Institute at the University of South Australia, and at Flinders University.
During 2001 to 2007 she worked for the Aboriginal Home Care Program with her Elders and then the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia (AHCSA). Following this she worked for the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) from 2007 to 2013, and as CEO of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM) from 2013 to 2018.
Dr Mohamed is also an Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of South Australia, a Board member of the Remote Area Health Corps and the Rosemary Bryant Research Centre at the University of South Australia, and a former Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander National Health Leadership Forum, representing peak Indigenous health groups. In her current role, she remains on several Australian Government expert advisory groups.
In her address to the Edith Cowan graduation ceremony, Dr Mohamed urged graduates to make social justice a central part of their lives.
“All of us, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, must work together so that this truly becomes a fair and just country,” she said.
“We must all stand together in challenging systems that entrench injustice and inequity. Achieving equity does not mean giving everyone the “same”, in the name of fairness; it means providing people with what they say they need, without judgment. It means addressing racism, in all its forms.”
Download a copy of this media statement.