We’re absolutely thrilled to announce the winner of our 2025 Walshs Medical Bursary — and what an inspiring story it is!
Congratulations to Dr Hannah Rienks, a fifth-year Obstetrics and Gynaecology Registrar (and proud Walshs client!) whose passion for women’s health is literally life-changing. Hannah will be heading to Kagando Hospital in western Uganda, joining a surgical team tackling one of the most heartbreaking and overlooked medical conditions: obstetric fistula.
In parts of the world where timely caesarean sections are a distant dream, women can endure days of obstructed labour. The result? Devastating injuries that leave them incontinent, isolated, and stripped of dignity. But thanks to Hannah — and the $10,000 Walshs Medical Bursary — dozens of women in Uganda will receive the surgeries they desperately need to restore their health and hope for the future.
Even better, Hannah will bring this rare expertise back to Australia, ensuring that women here who suffer these complications also get the care they deserve. Now that’s impact.
As soon as we read Hannah’s application, we knew she was something special. But the quality of entries this year was so outstanding that we just couldn’t stop there…
UPDATE: Read about Dr Hannah Rienk’s life-changing experience in Uganda and see some of the smiling faces of those helped by the surgical team and the Walshs bursary funds HERE.
Enter Dr Fiona Edwards, another incredible Walshs client and an Intensive Care trainee whose groundbreaking research on ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is set to improve outcomes for critically ill patients around the world. Fiona’s work in collaboration with the University of Oxford is already shaping the future of ICU care. That’s why we awarded Fiona a $5,000 second prize this year — to help support her innovative research project.
At Walshs, we’re honoured to back future specialists like Hannah and Fiona who are pushing boundaries, advancing medicine, and making the world a healthier place — one patient at a time.
To Hannah and Fiona: we’re so proud of you, and we can’t wait to see the incredible difference you’ll make.
Stay tuned for updates on their journeys — and thank you to everyone who applied. The future of medicine is bright!
