Professor Helen Milroy

Helen Milroy is a descendant of the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia but was born and educated in Perth. She is Australia’s first Indigenous doctor and child psychiatrist. Currently, Helen is the Stan Perron Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Perth Children’s Hospital and University of Western Australia and Honorary Research Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute, where she is Co-Director of the Embrace research collaboration. 

Helen is the Chair of the Gayaa Dhuwi Proud Spirit Australia organisation and a board member of Beyond Blue. Helen has been on state and national mental health and research advisory committees and boards with a particular focus on Indigenous mental health and the wellbeing of children. From 2013-2017, Helen was a Commissioner for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and from 2017-2021 was a Commissioner with the National Mental Health Commission.

In 2020, Helen was the joint winner of the Australian Mental Health Prize and named the WA Australian of the Year for 2021. Helen is also an artist and published author and illustrator of children’s books. She has been shortlisted for several children’s literature awards and received the 2021 Whitley Award for best early childhood reader for Backyard Birds.