Australia Day 2026 Honours

^{Pictured: Honorary Fellow Dr Debra Gook AM}

We congratulate Honorary Fellow Dr Debra Gook who has been appointed in the General Division as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to women's health, and to reproductive biology and fertility as a clinician and researcher.

Dr Gook is a Senior Research Fellow in Reproductive Services and Head of Cryopreservation Services at the Women’s. Dr Gook’s work focuses on a new frontier: trying to eliminate cancer cells from ovarian tissue, which may provide those whose fertility has been affected by haematological malignancy, the possibility of parenthood in the future.

Throughout her career she has pursued her passion to improve evidence based care for those at risk of infertility from medical treatments or diseases. Dr Gook is a pioneer in the field. She was the first scientist worldwide to demonstrate that oocytes could be frozen (1990), leading to development of the worlds first egg bank at The Royal Womens Hospital. She demonstrated proof of concept that ovarian tissue could be frozen, which led to the worlds first live births from heterotopic autografting. Both of these findings were groundbreaking in medicine and of great benefit for society at large, providing new opportunities for parenthood.

Dr Gook was also an awardee for our 2025 Honouring the Honoraries Awards in the category of Teaching and Learning co-winning the Award for Outstanding Mentorship of Students.